A metal stamping plant near Montgomery, Ala., has employed child laborers as young as 12 years old, according to a Reuters exclusive report published Friday.

Local police, the family of three of the underage workers and eight current factory employees confirmed the story, said the outlet. Parts made at the SMART Alabama LLC factory are used for automobiles.

“Forms of child labor, including indentured servitude and child slavery, have existed throughout American history,” according to the University of Iowa Labor Center. In the 1920s and 1930s attempts to federally regulate child labor failed. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act finally established minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children.

Today, federal and Alabama state laws prevent minors under age 18 from working metal stamping and pressing operations such as SMART, since the machinery could be a safety risk. Additionally, Alabama law requires children 17 and under to be enrolled in school.

According to Reuters, the parts from SMART are used for Hyundai Motor Co. assembly lines and the company is a subsidiary of the Korean carmaker. Hyundai said in a statement to that “it does not tolerate illegal employment practices at any Hyundai entity and SMART denied the allegations, adding that it relies on temporary work agencies to fill vacancies.

Recently, the plant has had difficulties retaining labor to keep up with demand, the Reuters report said.

Pedro Tzi, the father of three children age 12 to 15, told Reuters that his children worked at the plant. One of the children, a 14-year-old girl, briefly went missing in February. Tzi said he regretted that his children had gone to work, but that his family was in desperate need of money. They are not working at the plant anymore and are enrolled in school.

Former and current employees said there were other minors working at SMART, where parts for Elantra, Sonata, and Santa Fe models are made.

Workers from SMART and local labor recruiters confirmed that the factory found many of the minors were hired through recruitment agencies. Such firms fill industrial jobs nationwide and they “have often been criticized by labor advocates because they enable large employers to outsource responsibility for checking the eligibility of employees to work,” Reuters said.

Reuters said the SMART plant has a history of health and safety violations, including reports of amputation hazards.

“A Reuters review of the records shows SMART has been assessed with at least $48,515 in OSHA penalties since 2013, and was most recently fined this year,” said the outlet. “OSHA inspections at SMART have documented violations including crush and amputation hazards at the factory.”

“Consumers should be outraged,” said David Michaels, the former U.S. assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, with whom Reuters shared the findings of its reporting.

A spokesperon for the Alabama Department of Labor said it would be coordinating with the U.S. Department of labor and other agencies to investigate the allegations, Reuters said.