Report: Illegal child labor surges in US

The United States' federal government is investigating more than 700 cases of possible child labor violations and said it has found almost 4,500 children working illegally since the start of the fiscal year — a 44-percent increase over the previous year.

Earlier last month, Duvan Perez, a 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant and a ninth grader in middle school, died when he was working at a poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

On July 14, he was cleaning a conveyor belt at the Mar-Jac Poultry processing plant and became entangled in the belt, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Perez's co-workers had tried to extract him from the equipment, which stretched to the plant's ceiling. Police found the teenager dead, and Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict said in a text message that Perez died from traumatic asphyxia and blunt force trauma, AP reported.

Labor Department officials said they are investigating possible child labor violations at Mar-Jac, along with a current death investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Mar-Jac blamed an unnamed staffing company for hiring Perez to work at their plant, saying that Perez's paperwork seemed to inaccurately represent his age.

The Labor Department has completed 765 child labor investigations and identified 4,474 children employed in violation of federal child labor laws since the current fiscal year beginning on Oct 1, officials said on Wednesday.

The department said child labor violations have increased nearly 70 percent nationwide since 2018.

"These are work environments that are unfit for adults, much less for minors," Wendy Cervantes, director of immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy, told AP.

"Duvan's tragic story is unfortunately too common, and too many kids like him are continuing to work in inappropriate settings across the country in direct violation of our child labor laws."

Perez was the third teenager who died in an industrial accident this summer.

Earlier last month, 16-year-old Michael Schuls died after becoming entangled in a wood stacking machine at a sawmill in northern Wisconsin, where he was employed. In June, another 16-year-old, Will Hampton, died when he was pinned between a semitruck and its trailer at a landfill in Lee's Summit, Missouri.

Most child labor violation cases involved routine violations, such as teenagers working beyond the allowed hours. However, there have been instances of children working in hazardous environments, such as meatpacking plants, AP reported.

Labor officials on Wednesday also noted an 87 percent increase in company fines for child labor violations, reaching $6.6 million since October, up from nearly $4.4 million the previous year.

One of the most recent fines was announced by the Labor Department on July 25, imposing penalties on McDonald's franchises in Louisiana and Texas for violating labor laws by employing teenage workers for extended hours beyond what is allowed.

The franchises were found to have allowed 14- and 15-year-olds to operate manual deep fryers and trash compactors, activities strictly prohibited for employees under the age of 16, AP reported.