Letter from El Monte sweatshop, 1990s
date: label: date made
content: 1995
notes: label: Description
content: This letter, written in Thai, belonged to a worker in the El Monte sweatshop.
label: Description
content: On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California
label: Associated Place
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
label: Associated Place
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Department of Justice. Immigration and Naturalization Service
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0268.10
label: accession number
content: 1997.0268
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0268.10
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Letter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 8 5/8 in; 27.94 cm x 21.9075 cm