Company That Hired A 12 Year-Old: She Looked 19

by The Washington Post

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Irma Rosales was the third female killed who had worked at a maquiladora in the Juarez Industrial Park, one of many factory compounds in the city. One body had even been left inside the complex.

Irma had been hired by International Wire Group, a St. Louis-based company that produces components for refrigerators sold under the biggest names in U.S. appliances - General Electric, Amana, Frigidaire, Maytag.

The plant managers took no responsibility for hiring a 12-year-old. Irma slipped by, said plant operations manager Jesus Castro, because her fake birth certificate looked authentic. "This lady looked like she was around 19 years old," he said.

Bernard Boone, the vice president of International Wire Group responsible for the maquiladora where Irma worked, learned about her death in the morning newspapers. His office - like those of most executives - was across the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas.

Boone came under fire. Police interrogated him, his managers and dozens of workers. Civic activists attacked the company for using illegal child labor. Boone said his company has done no audits of employee ages since International Wire bought the plant in early 1995. "But it's something we try to keep the record clean on," he said.

After Irma's death, plant managers of the Juarez Industrial Park held an emergency meeting. They voted to donate three cars for police patrols in their complex, to fine factories that don't keep their unused lots clear of weeds and rubbish, and to erect more street lamps on the roads into the shantytown ringing the park.

Copyright 2000 Seattle Times