Saturday, May 11, 2019

New Jersey woman convicted of enslaving Sri Lankan national, forcing her into same-sex marriage...the curse of illegal immigration is slavery

New Jersey woman convicted of enslaving Sri Lankan national, forcing her into same-sex marriage

She moved from one of the world’s poorest countries to one of the richest — only to become a slave.
A New Jersey resident who forced a Sri Lankan national to work for free for nearly a decade and married her to keep her in the U.S. was found guilty Friday after a six-day trial.

Alia Imad Faleh Al Hunaity, 43, brought the woman to the U.S. on a temporary visa in 2009 so the victim could work for her cleaning her homes in Woodland Park and Secaucus, cooking and caring for Hunaity’s three children, authorities said.
But Hunaity never paid her, limited her interactions with the world and required her to sleep on public spaces within Hunaity’s homes, including in the kitchen, according to the Department of Justice.

After years of living in the U.S. without a valid visa, the victim was forced to marry Hunaity to obtain a green card and continue to work, federal prosecutors said.

“The defendant in this case treated the victim as a slave,” Craig Carpenito, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said in a statement. “Al-Hunaity kept the victim in this country illegally and hid her away, in order to force her to perform household work for Al-Hunaity without pay, privacy, or the ability to move about freely.”
Hunaity, who’s also known as Alia Al Qaternah, was convicted of forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain and marriage fraud after two hours of jury deliberations. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the forced labor charge when she’s sentenced on Sept. 4.
A 2018 indictment said Hunaity’s abuse and threats caused “serious harm” to the victim, who has not been named.
“The defendant took advantage of the victim for years, forcing her to live in terrible conditions, work without pay, and then enter into a fraudulent marriage to continue the cycle of abuse,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Eric Dreiband said in the statement. “The Department of Justice will continue to investigate and vigorously prosecute forced labor cases so that victims can obtain justice.”

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