Analysis
To replace immigrant labor, Republicans want to put children to work
Going beyond personal anecdotes, the Republicans see these measures as part of a process to fill the void left by the deportations of undocumented migrants, thousands of whom have been employed across the state.
Two bills aiming to regulate child labor are being debated in Florida. If these bills pass, children as young as 14 could work shifts longer than eight hours without lunch breaks, or perform strenuous tasks in night shifts from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., any day of the week, including during the school year. In addition, it will be possible to legally employ 13-year-olds as well, as long as they have already finished middle school and would turn 14 by December 31. These initiatives are being considered in a state where the average high school dropout rate is 20 percent (over 40 percent in some counties), more than 80,000 minors are already employed as workers, and violations of child labor laws have more than tripled in the past six years.
The bills were presented by Monique Miller, a member of the Florida Senate, as a way to “reduce barriers to teenagers learning their trade and preparing for their career.” Miller claimed that the idea to expand the provisions to allow hiring 13-year-olds came from Randy Fine, a newly elected Republican in Congress and a Trump diehard. According to Miller, “[Fine’s] wife called and said, ‘Our son, who’s a mature and very wonderful young man … wants to be able to work for the summers. But unfortunately, his birthday is late in the year. Their request was: Is it possible to let teenagers who are going to be 14 that year not miss out on their one summer to go work?”
Going beyond personal anecdotes, the Republicans see these measures as part of a process to fill the void left by the deportations of undocumented migrants, thousands of whom have been employed across the state. Starting in 2023, employers are required to verify the immigration status of their employees and notify the local government of any irregularity, under penalty of a fine of $1,000 per day until the requirement is met. Along with Trump's latest measures, this has prompted many of the undocumented immigrants not yet deported to leave. The Republicans' idea is to replace these migrants – who often held night jobs, underpaid and without rights – with the labor of very young locals.
This intention was made clear by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who, during a discussion with Tom Homan, Trump's “border czar” in charge of the entire deportation program, at the New College of Florida, wondered: “Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import an illegal, when, you know, teenagers used to work [these jobs]?”
Of course, Monique Miller has a very clear political background that gives us the ideological context for these proposals. The Republican senator is a member of the organization Moms for Liberty, which is well known for its campaigns against the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, against “gender propaganda” in schools and against the use of masks and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights organization, has called Moms for Liberty “a far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities.”
The ties to neo-fascism could not be clearer: in December 2022, Moms for Liberty organized an anti-abortion event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, entitled “Protect the Children,” alongside the Proud Boys, a far-right armed militia, the far-right Breitbart website, and the neo-Nazis of the Goyim Defense League.
The new child labor bills in Florida have triggered a wave of outrage from opposition politicians and labor unions. Rich Templin, director of politics and public policy at the local AFL-CIO union, said he was horrified by this move by the Republicans: “These bills that are moving will give all the power to the employers and make it so much easier for these 16 and 17-year-olds to be exploited,” Templin said. “There’s a lot of pressure from the business community to do things like this because we’re seeing a real shortage of a labor market that’s willing to work for low wages, no benefits, and terrible schedules. … Instead of changing business models and finding ways to incentivize people to do this work, they keep trying to find new sources for cheap labor.”
Angie Nixon, a Florida union activist who was elected as a State Representative for the Democrats and the founder of the independent bookstore Café Resistance, railed against the bills: “That’s what this is all about. They want cheap labor and now they are going to do it on the backs of our children.”
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/manca-manodopera-migrante-florida-lavorino-i-bambini on 2025-04-09