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Minimum $7.25 hour in direct compensation not including benefits on the federal level. Regardless the VISa application said $4500 month salary and that is what is owed. If the amount was a lie its human trafficking.
Primary intent of the crime to me seems to be fraud, not human trafficking. Unless the maid herself was lied to, coerced, abducted, trafficked, and/or used as bonded labour. I'll admit I don't know the finer workings of US law, but generally speaking, that is what would define human trafficking. You can extend that to this case if the fraudulent visa application filed by the diplomat falls under the same purview, but you are doing so solely in an attempt to drive the negative connotations of the word to steer your argument. In the same fashion you had done earlier with the allegations of slavery and caste discrimination.
In effect, I'm seeing you play the prosecutor and Blademaster playing the defendant.
Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
-Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry
Lied to, coerced, abducted, trafficked, and/or used as bonded labour is not required. All that is required is as follows
22 USC § 7102. (9) B
(B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
Slavery includes forced labor which si defined as
18 U.S.C. § 1589
Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person--(1) by threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint against, that person or another person;
(2) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or
(3) by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process,
(zraver- only one of those three requirements has to be met)
Lied to, coerced, abducted, trafficked, and/or used as bonded labour is not required. All that is required is as follows
22 USC § 7102. (9) B
(B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
The highlighted red is the bone of contention.
Was the housekeeper subjected to 'involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery'?
Slavery includes forced labor which si defined as
18 U.S.C. § 1589
Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person--(1) by threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint against, that person or another person;
(2) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or
(3) by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process,
(zraver- only one of those three requirements has to be met)
I suppose you are pointing out to the third condition, but doing some digging myself;
(c) In this section:
(1) The term "abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal
process" means the use or threatened use of a law or legal
process, whether administrative, civil, or criminal, in any
manner or for any purpose for which the law was not designed, in
order to exert pressure on another person to cause that person to
take some action or refrain from taking some action.
Was that the issue here? It doesn't seem to be the case..
So again, loosely throwing around terms like slavery and human trafficking seems to be nothing short of a free for all bash-fest. I have no sympathies with the lady; infact, neither lady. They both benefited breaking the law. To pretend one exploited the other is a joke. Reality is, they both circumvented US law. The housekeeper was just smart enough to play her cards right.
Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
-Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry
You're right its not a game of words. Diplomatic Immunity is restricted to a very select class of people via treaty by design. Consular officials are not diplomats.
India had better respect the rights of credentialed diplomats and protected diplomatic staff and families... This chick though was not a diplomat.
India will treat the same way the US has been treating diplomats from other countries and more.
$500 a month on 200 hours of work per month (assuming she only worked 200 hours and no over time) equals $2.50 an hour which is 1/3 the minimum wage. That is wage slavery. Its not a moving goal post.
Granted that the Indian diplomat has committed an error of judgement and her actions have breached US laws. But does that allow the maid servant to get US citizenship?
The right action would be to declare the Indian diplomat "persona non grata" and send her home. Deport the maid also.
But if the US put her in prison, then things will become messy.
Originally posted by Officer of EngineersView Post
Again, here are the legal positions stated by both sides. Khobragade does not enjoy 100% diplomatic immunity. How much does she enjoy is now the debate.
Trying to look for outs in this case, here's a couple..
Khobragade's lawyer is insisting on consular immunity saying that the crime may not have been grave. Khobragade was released within two hours of her arrest which, according to legal experts, has rendered the grave crime argument put forward by US authorities hollow. Under the VCCR, a consular officer can be arrested only in the case of a "grave crime and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority". Indian government too believes that this may not have been a case of grave crime.
Second, is it as easy as paying up what was declared and then closing the case. Not quite.
The US has responded to summoning of its ambassador Nancy Powell here by declaring that she had no immunity under Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Like what happened earlier with another diplomat Neena Malhotra, who faced similar charges, the Indian government has no option but to make itself a party in the case as it was responsible for reimbursement of Khobragade's babysitter Sangeeta Richard's salary and other expenses. Khobragade is accused of not paying Richard $ 4,500 per month as required under the US laws. However, if all other perks Richard enjoyed were to be monetized, the salary discrepancy wouldn't seem as glaring.
The maid in that case was awared $1.5m damges. It's unclear how much she actually received (if anything) as Malhotra left the country shortly after.
Pattern is to shift US-India into employer-employee and leave it at that.
That's a bit unsettling.. A quick google shows that this is the third case against officials at the Indian NY Consulate in the last 3 years. That's one case every year. NYC Indian Consulate Has a Serious Maid in India Problem
Maybe the MEA should do their job rather than blame the US authorities for doing theirs... You'd think they'd smarten up.
At this rate, if Kobragade gets off easy, it may well be another Consulate official and another maid next year.
That's a bit unsettling.. A quick google shows that this is the third case against officials at the Indian NY Consulate in the last 3 years. That's one case every year. NYC Indian Consulate Has a Serious Maid in India Problem
Maybe the MEA should do their job rather than blame the US authorities for doing theirs... You'd think they'd smarten up.
At this rate, if Kobragade gets off easy, it may well be another Consulate official and another maid next year.
Wait for someone to claim a 'vendetta' or somesuch. Usually doesn't take long.
You are right. Given that there have been legal issues the ministry responsible really needs to make sure that all its officials are beyond reproach when it comes to the hiring of domestic staff. That means filling out all the paperwork properly & not doing anything that might bring you to the attention of the authorities. Oh dear!
That's a bit unsettling.. A quick google shows that this is the third case against officials at the Indian NY Consulate in the last 3 years. That's one case every year. NYC Indian Consulate Has a Serious Maid in India Problem
Maybe the MEA should do their job rather than blame the US authorities for doing theirs... You'd think they'd smarten up.
One problem a year versus how many other maids with no problem. India isn't the only country bringing in maids to live with their diplomatic staff in NYC.
Wonder how the fallout happened, they would have picked some one they knew, speaking English would have been useful, she probably could cook what they liked as well. All in all it should not have ended up this way.
At this rate, if Kobragade gets off easy, it may well be another Consulate official and another maid next year.
Yes, because there isn't going to be any change. People should be more mindful how they manage their maids that's all. No complaint, no issue.
I don't understand why $4.5k/month was mentioned on the visa application. Possibly to avoid unnecessary questions at the us embassy.
If lodging ie no commuting expenses, food and other miscellaneous expenses were taken into account it would amount to much more than $500/month in indirect benefits.
Minimum $7.25 hour in direct compensation not including benefits on the federal level. Regardless the VISa application said $4500 month salary and that is what is owed. If the amount was a lie its human trafficking.
I don't get this. If she was working 40 hours a week, that would come out to $1450 for five weeks. I can understand a thousand or so more but what could have possessed the consular staff to put in $4500 a month on the Visa application?
Regardless, terming this "human trafficking" and "slavery" is just hyperbole. This is Visa fraud and nothing else. Some people seem to be trying to be overly dramatic.
Secondly, the fatcats in the Indian foreign service need to learn how to do their own housework. They have 9 to 5 jobs like everyone else. It wouldn't hurt to do the dishes, vacuum the floor and clean up after the kids when they get home like everyone else does. They are acting like spoilt brats going to the extent of importing housekeepers from India.
A quick google on Sangeeta Richard showed that she was gone as of June and it was only after India filed charges and request extradition that the US found her and got the story.
Kobragade did not file a Missing Person with the NYPD. She used her own links in India to get her maid deported ... and got bitten in the ass.
This is the type of person the pro-Kobragade is defending?
Or it could be another angle... She wanted to get a permanent visa in America and one of the best way to do that is to allege domestic abuse, imagined or real.
Charges were filed against Richard, the maid, in India, who then requested extradition from the US. There were no NYPD missing person report even though she was missing since June. It was only after the US found her that the maid spill her story. Sounds like reactive rather than pro-active at getting permanent residency.
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