Child labor operations are more widespread than you realize.
Throughout the summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted raids targeting illegal immigrants and cartel members. Tensions culminated in violent riots in Los Angeles, where activists clashed with ICE agents and other federal officials over deportation efforts in the Los Angeles County area. However, one key issue has been overlooked in this debate: the presence of child labor trafficking.
After ICE officials raided a marijuana farm near Camarillo, California, on July 10, it was revealed that at least ten underaged workers, most of them unaccompanied, were kept at the farm as laborers. The cannabis farm is now under federal investigation for potential Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations.
How have California authorities responded to illegal child labor operations in their state? Not with the level of concern we might hope.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass doubled down on her sanctuary city policies just hours after the raid by signing a new executive order further limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal agents. “We are a proud city of immigrants, and with the Trump Administration signaling that they will ratchet up their chaotic approach, I’m making sure we deploy every resource and tool available within the City to ensure that we are supporting immigrant communities,” Bass said. “I will never accept these unlawful and chaotic raids and will continue to do all that I can to defend the rights of the people of Los Angeles.” She deftly dodged the issue of child exploitation.
California Governor Gavin Newsom similarly deflected, suggesting that ICE were part of the problem, posting on X: “We prosecute criminals that break child labor laws. You make the kids pose for photos, tear gas them, and promote laws like this,” linking to legislative bills in other states.
Unfortunately for America, this ambivalence and refusal to condemn illegal child labor is nothing new. Illegal labor practices are not only well-documented in the US; they are often ignored by authorities. A decade ago, The New Yorker reported on the abusive and illegal working conditions within Chinese fast food restaurants across the country. Workers were smuggled in, lived in squalid conditions, were confined to black-market housing, and were regularly moved from town to town to prevent them from forming lasting relationships. These exploitative operations have become common in many states.
A PBS investigation last year revealed how many children are similarly subject to labor exploitation, in dangerous industries across the country. According to their report: “The most common job for migrant children is also one of the most hazardous, roofing and construction, despite laws prohibiting anyone under 18 from doing so.” These children are working risky jobs, with stolen ID, and nobody is looking out for their interests.
California state law actually hampers investigations into child exploitation when those children are illegally in the country. State Bill 54, signed into law in 2017 by then-Governor Jerry Brown, established a statewide sanctuary for illegal aliens residing in California. Under this law, state and local police officers are prohibited from even inquiring into an individual’s immigration status, thus obstructing leads involving trafficked children. As a result of these policies, federal agencies are left in the dark as to where smuggled children may be, where they are being trafficked, and for what purposes.
Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children remain missing throughout the US. Between 2019 and 2023 alone, ICE reported more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children who failed to appear for their immigration court hearings. With limited means to track these minors, coupled with sanctuary states’ refusal to cooperate with federal agencies, it is likely that the true number has ballooned considerably in recent years. ICE Director Tom Homan remarked: “We’re looking for over 300,000 missing children. We’ve already found 10,000… This should be a non-partisan issue… we’re rescuing thousands of children.”
Sanctuary state laws like California’s make rooting out these illegal and oftentimes dangerous work operations next to impossible. And with that, any chance at saving smuggled children is severely diminished. Politics have successfully moralized an issue on which everyone should be united on: saving children from modern-day slavery.
As the PBS investigation noted, regulators are not equipped to track what’s going on in workplaces using child labor: “[T]he system is set up in a way that it’s not going to find children. Children work at night, and the auditors come in the morning. Children work with fake I.D.s. The auditors are checking paperwork, not actually speaking with children.”
Protecting children from exploitation should be a non-partisan priority. Right now, too many legislators seem happy to sweep it under the rug.
