Re-creation of El Monte sweatshop, National Museum of American History, 1998 On August 2, 1995, authorities raided a sweatshop in El Monte, California. Inside the fenced-in compound they found seventy illegal Thai immigrants who had been forced to work sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, sewing garments that would eventually be sold in major chain stores around the country. Smithsonian curators saw the incident as "an iconic event in American work history" and collected material from former workers and agencies involved in the raid. See also: Work History

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