A New York Occasions front-page expose by Hannah Dreier on Sunday tore the lid off the scandal of underage migrant staff getting used as unlawful youngster labor: “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Kids Work Brutal Jobs Throughout the U.S..”  

The net headline deck: “Arriving in file numbers, they’re ending up in harmful jobs that violate youngster labor legal guidelines — together with in factories that make merchandise for well-known manufacturers like Cheetos and Fruit of the Loom.”

The Occasions was in full ethical meltdown mode. However the paper’s condemnation was conveniently off-target: The place was Biden?

It was virtually midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., however contained in the manufacturing facility every thing was vibrant. A conveyor belt carried luggage of Cheerios previous a cluster of younger staff. One was 15-year-old Carolina Yoc, who got here to the USA on her personal final 12 months to stay with a relative she had by no means met….The manufacturing facility was stuffed with underage staff like Carolina, who had crossed the Southern border by themselves and have been now spending late hours bent over hazardous equipment, in violation of kid labor legal guidelines….

Dreier known as Yoc “a part of a brand new economic system of exploitation: Migrant youngsters, who’ve been coming into the USA with out their dad and mom in file numbers…”

….This labor power has been slowly rising for nearly a decade, but it surely has exploded since 2021, whereas the techniques meant to guard youngsters have damaged down.

Examine the 12 months talked about above: 2021. Who was president then? And why isn’t Biden talked about?

The Occasions is fretting about this migrant disaster with out suggesting a single trace of blame towards the precise individuals accountable for immigration; particularly, the Biden Administration’s welcoming messages to unlawful immigrants and the ensuing surge of unaccompanied youngsters crossing the border.

There are some jabs on the Division of Well being and Human Companies, however just about none at Biden himself, whose title is talked about a mere 3 times on this 5,200-word investigation. Trump was in fact blamed for every thing that occurred on his watch, embrace placing migrant youngsters in “cages” (cages constructed through the earlier Obama administration).

The reporter left one other overly delicate clue as to which administration is accountable for the wave of underage migrants now working illegally.

The variety of unaccompanied minors coming into the USA climbed to a excessive of 130,000 final 12 months — 3 times what it was 5 years earlier — and this summer time is predicted to carry one other wave.

And who was president then? Donald Trump, whose immigration insurance policies have been continuously condemned within the Occasions.

The reporter snuck on this important element from Guatemala:

Baby labor is the norm in rural Guatemala, and she or he herself had began working across the second grade.

Whereas the Biden administration was barely talked about within the Occasions, it was truly lauded on the PBS NewsHour Tuesday evening for addressing the issue (that they brought about). Host Geoff Bennett launched his Dreier interview: “The Biden administration introduced new steps in the present day to crack down on youngster labor violations, together with harder investigations of the businesses who could profit from the work.”

Dreier later gave Biden a pat on the again, additionally with out acknowledging it was he who set the issue in movement.

….With this new Biden initiative, the Division of Labor goes to launch a brand new operation to exit, not simply reply to suggestions, however go actively attempt to seek for these youngsters. And you understand the identical staffing points which have been there will likely be there. However I feel lots of people who work with these youngsters are celebrating that a part of the announcement, at the least, in the present day.

An electronic mail from the (UK) Spectator with the pungent topic line “Youngsters out of cages… and into factories” launched Roger Kimball’s take: “….the stark disagreeable proven fact that the entire disaster that the Occasions deplores is the creation of the Biden administration.”