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Washington: The US federal prosecutors have charged five Nebraska hotel operators \u2014 all members of the same Indian family \u2014 in what the Department of Justice (DOJ) calls a large-scale human trafficking operation exploiting undocumented workers, including at least ten children under the age of 12.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the defendants are accused of forcing both children and adults into grueling labour under threat and coercion, highlighting vulnerabilities in low-wage service industries across the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is about a family business built on human exploitation,\u201d said US Attorney Susan Lehr for the District of Nebraska. \u201cThe defendants profited by compelling vulnerable victims, including children, to work for little or no pay under threat and coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The five accused \u2014 Kentakumar Chaudhari, Rashmi Ajit Samani, Amit Prahladbhai Chaudhari, Amit Babubhai Chaudhari, and Maheshkumar Chaudhari \u2014ran hotels where undocumented individuals were forced to work in \u201cunclean, unsafe conditions, sometimes in the very hotels where they were forced to work,\u201d according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n
Twenty seven victims, including 10 children, made to work long hours in unsafe, unclean hotels for little or no pay<\/p>\n
Victims were reportedly required to work \u201clong hours, seven days a week, in exchange for little or no pay\u201d and were \u201cthreatened with arrest, deportation, and harm to their families if they refused to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Aug 12, federal, state, and local officers executed search warrants at the Nebraska hotels, including AmericInn, Omaha, The Inn (formerly Super 8), Omaha, The New Victorian Inn and Omaha, Rodeway Inn, Bellevue.<\/p>\n
The DOJ said these properties were \u201cused as part of a conspiracy to commit forced labour\u201d and that the defendants \u201cconspired to harbor undocumented non-citizens for the purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain.\u201d<\/p>\n
A total of 27 victims were rescued: \u201cTen minor children under the age of 12 from the forced labour scheme, and 17 adult victims from the same criminal conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ\u2019s Civil Rights Division emphasised: \u201cNo child should ever be forced into labour. We will use every tool available to bring to justice those who exploit the most vulnerable members of our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nebraska arrests come amid a wider push by US authorities to dismantle trafficking networks.<\/p>\n
The US 2024 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report placed India on Tier 2, noting that the government \u201cdoes not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking\u201d but is \u201cmaking significant efforts to do so.\u201d The report highlighted persistent concerns about \u201cforced labour, sex trafficking in religious and tourist destinations, and the exploitation of children, including in the context of child sex tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts in Washington stress that the Nebraska case underscores the global nature of trafficking. Indian authorities have increasingly coordinated with US counterparts to investigate potential exploitation networks affecting Indian nationals abroad, especially in low-wage labour sectors.<\/p>\n
The five Nebraska defendants now face federal charges that could carry decades in prison if convicted, and the investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington: The US federal prosecutors have charged five Nebraska hotel operators \u2014 all members of the same Indian family \u2014 in what the Department of Justice (DOJ) calls a large-scale human trafficking operation exploiting undocumented workers, including at least ten children under the age of 12. According to Kashmir Media Service, the defendants are accused …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":181365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}