Eva Longoria Supports CARE Act to End Child Labor in U.S. Agriculture

As Americans fight to get more fresh fruits and veggies into their diets, they might not realize some of that produce is picked by young children. In fact, children as young as 12 are allowed to work on commercial farms, and children as young as 7 or 8 can work with parental permission. For smaller farms, there is no minimum age. But the CARE Act, recently endorsed by Eva Longoria, can help reduce child labor in U.S. agriculture and make sure all that fresh, yummy food is picked fairly.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, the law which regulates the types of jobs people under 18 can hold, allows children working in agriculture to work longer hours at younger ages than in any other industry. Child farmworkers drop out of school at four times the rate of other children. They die at four times the rate of other children. And they are significantly more vulnerable to extreme forms of exploitation, like human trafficking, because of the lack of legal protections available to them. And as Longoria points out, a disproportionate number of those children are Hispanic.

The Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE) would fill in some of these protection gaps. For example, it would apply the same minimum age and maximum working hour requirements to children working in agriculture that other working children enjoy. That would include raising the minimum age for hazardous work from 16, which it currently is for agriculture, to 18, which it is for everything else. It would also increase fines for child labor violations from $11,000 to $15,000.

One common argument against increasing protections for children working in agriculture is that stricter laws will mean children can't help their parents on small, local, family farms. But the CARE Act includes exceptions for children working on family farms, so small farmers won't lose the help of their limited workforce. The CARE Act would primarily affect children working on large commercial farms, who are often exposed to the longest hours, lowest wages, and most dangerous conditions.

Take a minute to ask Congress to pass the CARE Act in support of child agricultural workers in the U.S. And check out the excellent video from Human Rights Watch about the CARE Act and child labor in U.S. agriculture.

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