Child Labor in Arkansas and Death Penalty for Illegal?

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa labor officials said Tuesday that they had uncovered dozens of child-labor violations at the nation’s biggest supplier of kosher meat. Officials from the state’s labor commissioner’s office said their investigation, which spanned several months, uncovered 57 cases of child-labor law violations at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, where nearly 400 workers were arrested this spring in the largest immigration enforcement operation in U. S. history. The types of violations included minors working in prohibited occupations, exceeding allowable hours for youth to work, failure to obtain work permits, exposure to hazardous chemicals and working with prohibited tools. Juda Engelmayer, an Agriprocessors spokesman, declined to comment.

Federal immigration agents arrested 389 illegal alien workers, mostly Guatemalans, in a May 12 raid at the Agriprocessors plant. Most of the arrested workers pleaded guilty within a week and are serving sentences in federal prisons outside Iowa before being deported. Allegations of child-labor violations were included in an initial affidavit and a search warrant that led to the raid at Agriprocessors, which also operates a plant near Gordon, Neb. Kerry Koonce, a spokesman for Iowa Workforce Development, the agency that oversees the labor commission, said Iowa’s child-labor investigation into Agriprocessors began before the federal immigration raid and was independent of the raid. Under Iowa law, it is illegal for children under the age of 18 to work in meatpacking plants. Koonce said the number of violations is much larger than what is usually found in Iowa.

“Typically, when we have childlabor issues, it’s an issue of one or two individuals,” she said. Koonce said the full report was not being made public because it is a part of a criminal investigation, but she confirmed that 57 children were involved. Labor officials say the childlabor violations would normally be turned over to the county attorney’s office, but in this case will most likely be handed over the Iowa attorney general at the county’s request. The attorney general’s office said it could not comment on what penalties are possible, but Koonce said any charges would be filed against the company and would generally include fines. Several underage workers who said they were employed at the plant have spoken out since the raid about their experiences. State labor officials say they are still investigating some wage violations at the plant.

www.nwanews.com/adg/National/233451/

I'm glad the Iowa Labor Office has decided to investigate the child labor issue in this case. I suddenly realized that when Petit Jean Poultry was raided a few years ago, the fact that a 14 year old girl was working there was never investigated by the Arkansas Dept of Labor! Here's the part from the AR dept of labor that deals with child labor:

www.arkansas.gov/labor/divisions/labor_standards
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Arkansas may end up "violating" the opinion of the Mexican Government and the World Court!
www.nwanews.com/adg/News/233711/
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Shocking video of illegal alien:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QICLyzsvtgI
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