Show-Me State Times

On May 3, 2023, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the Corporate Responsibility for Child Labor Elimination Act, new legislation that would compel large corporations to eradicate unlawful child labor, fueled by Biden’s border crisis, from their operations in the United States.

Recent investigative reporting has documented an explosive growth of migrant child labor in the United States and found evidence of unlawful child labor in the supply chains of some of America’s largest corporations.

“Joe Biden’s open-border policies have created the biggest human smuggling and child labor operation in history. Large corporations are turning a blind eye to the crisis and exploiting it for their own gain,” said Senator Hawley. “If the administration won’t act to protect kids, Congress must. This legislation compels large corporations to eradicate child labor in their work place and holds those accountable who fail to act.”

Senator Hawley’s Corporate Responsibility for Child Labor Elimination Act would:

• Compel large corporations to disclose the steps they are taking to eradicate unlawful child labor in their workforce.
   
• Direct these companies to undergo independent audits on an annual basis to ensure they are not complicit in unlawful child labor, including through their suppliers and on-site service providers in the United States.
   
• Require these companies to submit the results of the audits to the Department of Labor (DOL) and also make them publicly available. The DOL will report to Congress those covered companies found to be complicit in unlawful child labor.
   
• Obligate CEOs to certify that their supply chains are free of unlawful child labor and that they have reported all instances of unlawful child labor in their company’s supply chain.
   
• Assess financial penalties on companies that evade the audit requirements, retaliate against workers, or fail to certify that their supply chain is free of unlawful child labor.

Read the full bill text here.

Background:

Last week, Senator Hawley sent a letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray demanding a full-scale effort be made to locate the nearly 85,000 migrant children that have gone missing under the Biden administration, while also bringing any child labor criminals holding them in modern-day slavery to justice.

Last month, in a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, Senator Hawley questioned Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, slamming the Biden Administration after reports revealing a sharp rise in trafficking and abuse of migrant children under his leadership.

Original source can be found here.