Last week, investigative reporting conducted by Reuters unveiled that a Hyundai supplier’s manufacturing facility in Luverne had utilized migrant child labor.
SMART Alabama LLC, a subsidiary of the automotive company that manufactures stamped metal for Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA), denied having knowledge that it employed the underage workers.
According to the Reuters report, three individuals employed by the company were children of Guatemalan migrants ages 12, 13 and 15.
The outlet reported that the issue first surfaced when the Enterprise Police Department alerted the Alabama Attorney General’s Office after the law enforcement entity located an undocumented girl who had went missing.
The girl, along with her siblings and father, who also worked at the facility, said that the company had employed other minors as well.
Investigative authorities have since launched an inquiry into the allegations. The attorney general’s office has yet to comment on the report.
In a statement responding to the report, SMART general manager Gary Sport placed the onus of ensuring the legal employment of workers upon the company’s hiring agencies.
“SMART Alabama, LLC has a longstanding policy that requires compliance with all federal, state, and local laws,” said Sport. “SMART denies any allegation that it knowingly employed anyone who is ineligible for employment under these laws. SMART finds the act of human trafficking and the exploitation of vulnerable populations tragic.”
“SMART, like many companies, relies on temporary employment agencies to fill its open positions,” he added. “In doing so, SMART relies on these agencies to follow the law in recruiting, hiring, and placing workers on its premises. If it comes to SMART’s attention that any worker is not eligible for employment, SMART immediately removes that worker from its premises.”
In a Tuesday interview on Birmingham’s News Radio 105.5 WERC, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) government relations manager Preston Huennekens indicated that the report could place a spotlight on the issue of illegal labor practices.
“Not only are they employing people who don’t have their papers together, they’re hiring people who aren’t even of legal working age in the United States,” noted Huennekens. “[T]his obviously begs the question, you know, what are they doing in Alabama? Why is this Hyundai supplier hiring not only illegal aliens but also underage illegal aliens working at this factory.”
“There have been people, who have at least claimed since about 2019, that there have been some things going on at this factory,” he added. “And, you know, this reminds me a lot of other instances of kind of workplace issues with illegal immigration… This kind of shows people the importance of enforcing immigration laws in the interior of the country, and particularly at the workplace.”
According to Huennekens, the Biden administration’s lax enforcement of U.S. immigration law had served to handicap authorities’ ability to deter activity such as what was reported at the Hyundai supplier’s facility.
“People are coming to the United States for jobs. And if you turn off the job magnet, making it difficult for these employers to skirt the law by really going through them and cracking down on them hiring illegal aliens, you’re not going to see as much of this in the future. But of course, with the way that [President] Joe Biden has tied the hands of ICE, so we’re not sure we’re going to see a lot of that in a couple years,” concluded Huennekens.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article’s headline has been updated to specify where the reported child labor occurred.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.