WHOOPS

NBC News Retracts Story on Underage Slaughterhouse Workers

One of the network’s main sources for the story—a young immigrant named Pedro who worked on a Kansas slaughterhouse floor and claimed to be 16—turned out to be much older.

NBC News has retracted a story after it was revealed that one of the network’s main sources—a young immigrant named Pedro who worked on a Kansas slaughterhouse floor and claimed to be 16—was actually much older. In the U.S. it’s illegal for minors to work in certain dangerous jobs, including at slaughterhouses. NBC later obtained documentation in his home country of Guatemala showing that Pedro, who spoke with both the network and Noticias Telemundo, was 21 years old. Pedro also fabricated his age on paperwork to enter the U.S. legally, ostensibly because it’s easier to enter the country under current immigration law.