[nothercastle]

I suppose if they could somehow get documents saying they are 18 when they are actually 15 nobody would know all the paperwork is clean. It’s not great but there would be no scandal because there would be no way to prove the kid was 15 when all the legal papers said otherwise. Seems like a real edge case tho

[Amezarak]

But that's largely the case the article is about: migrant children coming to the US and claiming they're old enough to work these jobs and these hours. You don't have to "somehow" get documents - if a refugee shows up without papers and tells the US government they're 18, how is the US government going to know they're lying? They're issued documents reflecting whatever they said. When the article mentions "dubious" and "fraudulent" documents, this is a major part of what they're talking about. (The other part involves contradictory documentation, and just plain fake IDs.)

"People" will know because they often don't keep it a secret (examples cited in article), and obviously the families know, but auditors and government agencies don't have a way to actually prove it in many cases, unless it's egregious or there's contradictory documentation.