Migrant child labor is the product of multi-system failures that have been decades in the making. Without legal status, a more straightforward path to work authorization, guaranteed access to counsel or access to most public benefits, young people do not have the confidence to report abuse to the authorities. Nor do they have the social, economic, or legal support that would reduce their financial need. In the absence of these support systems, migrant youth’s desperation and vulnerability to exploitation, debt bondage and abuse deepen.

The following report, authored by Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois-Chicago, arrives at a number of conclusions concerning the longstanding nature of migrant child labor exploitation in the U.S.

First, the report examines with a critical eye the historical context that drives the problem of migrant child labor exploitation.

Second, the report describes several interventions and offers recommendations to prevent child labor exploitation in the U.S.”