Ohio Poultry Plant Violates US Labor Law; Federal Agents Discover Minor Workers

FRANCE-INDUSTRY-FOOD — Food factory Cargill's employees check the breaded chicken before package the product inside the factory in Orleans, Central France, on October 9, 2023. Cargill, which employs 250 employees, provides 70% of the needs of the breaded chicken demand such as nuggets to the 1550 Mac Donald's restaurants in France. GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP via Getty Images

Federal agents found over two dozen minors illegally working in Gerber's Poultry in Kidron, Ohio.

The minors were reportedly from Guatemala, working in meat processing and sanitation in the poultry plant.

FBI Raids Gerber's Poultry, Found Minor Workers

In the early evening of October 4, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI surrounded the plant and closed down traffic into and out of the plant. The federal agents arrived at 9:00 p.m, and the agents asked employees for identification, asked about plant sanitation, and hovered in the plant most of the night.

According to NBC News, the FBI spoke to a minor employee at the plant the night of the raid. The minor employee said he could not name himself because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

In the video posted on TikTok, the agents organized the group of workers into lines during the operation. The workers looked terrified, as if they were being rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a raid.

The agents took some photos of the workers and questioned them with the documents they had passed that showed they were of age and legally allowed to work in the United States. The minors were also asked to fill out a questionnaire made available in Spanish, English, and languages indigenous to Guatemala.

According to resident Dany Ceto, who has relatives who work at the plant, he told CBS News he assumed it was an immigration raid as FBI agents surrounded the plant.

Ceto said the children work at the plant's second shift since the schedule suits their school agenda. The witnesses confirmed no arrests were made at the time of the operation. The FBI did not also respond to a request for comment.

US Labor Law

According to The Guardian, child labor violations have risen in the US, but efforts to render solutions through legislation acknowledged less support. The US labor law states that it is illegal for anyone under 18 to work in meatpacking facilities due to the increased risk of injury from dangerous machines and chemicals.

The US Department of Labor's wage and hour division recently reported on NBC News that there was a 69% rise in child labor in the United States in 2018, particularly among the Guatemalan youth.

Most of them migrated and found themselves working in the meatpacking and sanitation of meatpacking plants. The immigration advocates reported that the children were forced to work by nonrelated adults who housed them and took advantage of their wages.

The advocates also added that the children wanted to earn money for themselves, so they went to work in meat processing and slaughterhouse sanitation.