Six Years For Secaucus Woman Who Enslaved Sri Lankan Maid

SECAUCUS, NJ — A former Secaucus resident who was charged by federal agents with enslaving a Sri Lankan woman — even forcing the domestic helper to marry her so she could continue to remain in the U.S. and work without pay — was sentenced this week to nearly six years in a federal prison.

Patch wrote about Alia Imad Faleh Al Hunaity, aka “Alia Al Qaternah," when she was first arrested in December of 2018: Al Hunaity had homes in Woodland Park and Secaucus, and federal investigators say she forced the victim to cook and clean in both homes, and to care for her three children, all without pay.

She was charged with forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain and marriage fraud.

She was found guilty of all charges after a six-day trial last May, and she was sentenced to 70 months in prison on Tuesday of this week. The U.S. Attorney's office led the case because of the charges of harboring an illegal alien. Here is Al Hunaity's federal sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpentino said Al Hunaity brought the victim, a Sri Lankan national, to the United States on a temporary visa in 2009 to perform domestic work. Al Hunaity deliberately caused the victim to overstay her visa and remain in the United States illegally for more than nine years.

Law enforcement officers say Al Hunaity severely limited the victim’s interactions with the outside world. She required the Sri Lankan woman to sleep on a bed in a public space in Hunaity’s homes, including in the kitchen.

In 2018, Al Hunaity even took advantage of the U.S.'s same-sex marriage laws, forcing the victim to marry her so that the "maid" could obtain legal residence and Al Hunaity could continue to force her to work without fear of the victim being deported., said Carpentino.

When she gets out of prison, Al Hunaity will also be on three years of supervised release.

U.S. Homeland Security also investigated this case; Homeland Security also runs an interagency Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team that investigates human trafficking, forced labor, international sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.

Original Patch story: Secaucus Woman Charged With Enslaving Sri Lankan Woman (Dec. 2018)