Forced LaborArchive 2008–2016

Forced Labor in Brentwood, New York (2004)

A forced labor case from 2004 in Brentwood, New York, United States.

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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

Mariluz Zavala pleaded guilty (November 5, 2004)of forced labor; conspiring to recruit, harbor, transport, house undocumented workers; engaging in extortionate credit transactions and transferring false alien registration cards of 69 Peruvians. Zavala and Jose Ibanez (co-defendent/husband) sheltered these immigrants into one house with squalid & cramped living conditions, 13 of who were minors, and used the earned money of the workers to pay for the mortgage of their three houses. They forced the victims to pay $6,000 to $13,000 for their smuggling fees.

Response and intervention

Zavala and Ibanez were both arrested. Zavala pleaded guilty about five months later on November 5, 2004 and received 15 years in prison while Ibanez pleaded guilty April 6, 2006, sentenced to 135 months in prison. They were both forced to forgeit $175,000 for the money spent on residency and $30,000 in crimes. Both traffickers were arrested on June 21st 2004 and prosecuted by attorneys in the Civil Rights Division & the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement as well as many other New York attorneys involved. All 69 of the victim were rescued and granted 'continued presence' in the U.S. and eventually enabling them to obtain permanent legal status in the future. Many other services provided by non-governmental organizations to recuperate.

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Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

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1 sourceArchive 2008–2016

Domestic Servitude2007

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Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, were each convicted of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude, and harboring aliens. They were keeping two housekeeper in their house and paying them only $100-150 a month, all of which was sent back to their families. The women were forced to work 18 hours a day and were subjected to horrible abuses as "punishments" for actions like sleeping late or stealing food from the trash because they were underfed.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016