(New York) Recently, on a subway platform in the Bronx, a 7 or 8 year old girl dressed in a puffy coat walked past passengers with a basket of M&M’s, Kit Kats and Trident gum slung over her shoulder.
A passenger filmed her asking out loud: “No parent, no parent.” Where is the parent? ”, then put the video on X.
Among all the human misery that the migrant crisis has brought to New York over the past two years, seeing children selling candy on the subway — sometimes during school hours, sometimes without their parents — is particularly disturbing.
In the subway and on social networks, New Yorkers are wondering: it’s child labor, isn’t it illegal? Shouldn’t we help these children?
Children aged 6 to 17 must be in school. With some exceptions, the law prohibits all work for children under 14 years of age. Selling anything in the metro requires a permit.
No agency has the mandate to intervene
But who has the responsibility to act? Seven city and state agencies have the same answer: “Not us.” »
More than 180,000 migrants have been registered by municipal agencies over the past two years, including 65,000 who are housed in homeless shelters. Many of them are desperate for ways to survive in an expensive city, but do not have work permits. Selling sweets is a source of income.
Recently, a 16-year-old girl was selling candy on the 1 train in downtown Manhattan at 10:45 a.m. on a weekday morning because she has to help her parents, she said. She refused to give her name.
School service centers assign teachers to ensure that families send their children to school, but they do not patrol. “I will refer you to the NYPD regarding this matter,” a spokesperson wrote.
New York police officers have arrested more than 1,100 people in 2023 for “illegal selling and solicitation/begging” on subways, said a spokesperson who declined to say whether officers were required to intervene if they see School-age children sell candy during school hours.
PHOTO ANDRES KUDACKI, THE NEW YORK TIMES
A little girl selling candy and chewing gum on the New York subway.
The state Labor Department says it is “difficult to determine” whether children selling candy on the subway violates labor law, which “governs labor relations,” i.e. i.e. employer-employees.
The city’s child welfare agency, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), says anyone who sees a child in a situation that appears dangerous can call the state’s tip line.
But according to the state Office of Youth Protection, which runs the hotline, a child selling candy or begging would not be considered abuse or neglect unless one signals a specific risk, for example a child “selling candy at a dangerous intersection.” (Last week, New York’s governor sent the National Guard and state police to patrol the subway to ease recent security concerns.)
Intervening takes time
Resolving this problem involves logistical challenges. A call to the emergency line must be assessed and then forwarded to the ACS, who can dispatch a responder. But the child may have already changed location. The police are faster, but they are usually only dispatched in emergencies.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway, says its regulations against unauthorized commerce include a $50 fine. A spokesperson referred requests for information to police and city hall.
According to migrant aid organizations, most of the candy sellers come from Ecuador. In this country, we worry about photos of children selling candy in New York. When Mayor Eric Adams visited Ecuador in October, as part of a tour of Latin America aimed at discouraging migration to New York, a reporter asked him: “What is going to happen to our Ecuadorian children selling candy in Times Square and on the subway? »
The mayor deflected the question, saying he had seen “children selling candy in the streets” in all the countries he visited during his tour: “In New York, we don’t allow our children to be in dangerous environments. »
Migrants are reluctant to talk about their work or name their suppliers. The magazine new York reported last year that they buy their candy from wholesalers or discount stores.
According to Monica Sibri, an Ecuadorian immigrant who supports migrants in New York, new arrivals give various reasons for taking their children to sell candy on the subway.
Some, she said, mistakenly think their children can miss a semester of school and make it up easily. Others experience delays in registering their children due to administrative formalities and vaccination records. Still others sold candy with their children in Ecuador and are doing the same in New York, on a temporary basis.
“Parents are not saying they don’t want to send their children to school,” said M.me Sibri. They say they have not yet completed the registration formalities; or some say they distrust the system. »
This article was published in the New York Times.
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reference: www.lapresse.ca