Recent reports of the exploitation of unaccompanied non-citizen children in dangerous workplaces in the United States have raised calls for assessing our existing child labor protection laws and the need to enforce them. In her testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the matter, Terri Gerstein, Director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy, remarks: “All children deserve a good start in life: the opportunity to get an education, and initial work experiences that are beneficial and not exploitative. With focused attention on this problem, sufficient resources, and law reform, we can again make oppressive child labor a thing of the past.”
Gerstein testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 10:00am. Watch the full committee hearing on “Ensuring the Safety and Well-Being of Unaccompanied Children”.
