Thousands of children are doing one of the most dangerous jobs in America: roofing. They're working in violation of basic child labor and workplace safety laws, and more and more of them are getting catastrophically injured. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
There are so many migrant child roofers in the US now, they’ve developed a whole TikTok subculture built around the hashtag "ruferitos.” All roofing work is illegal for minors. But contractors say they don't worry about hiring kids because labor inspectors never visit worksites.
Roofing is one of the three deadliest jobs for adults. For kids, it's six times as dangerous. Migrant children who come to the US alone are under huge pressure to earn money. They say they have no choice but to endure 12-hour days and the risk of falls: They have to make rent.
We talked to more than 100 child roofers around the country for this story, including 12 year olds. Something that shocked me is that even as more kids get hurt and die, GOP states are pushing to legalize roofing for minors. Florida is debating a bill and Iowa already passed one.
Underage roofers are not hard to find. They work outside. They wait at day labor sites. They're constantly posting selfies from roofs on TikTok. Yet labor inspectors bring fewer than seven child labor roofing cases a year. One told me, “I’m not going to go out and look for it."
@hannahdreier 12??? Those kids should be in middle school, not roofing sites!
@hannahdreier GOP claims they don't want immigrants in public, but they most definitely want to exploit them to their benefit.
@hannahdreier @Debbie_Winslow_ Craven Capitalism
@hannahdreier "GOP states are pushing to legalize roofing for minors" Is that a joke, right? Passing such laws will only atract more migrants. Arent they against migrants? Whats going on?
@hannahdreier I have some questions that this article had led me to ask. Can any federal group investigate this as a trafficking issue? Also, is there any gofundme or anything of that nature set up or that can be set up for the injuried child named Antoni? That's to start with.