Alia Imad Faleh Al Hunaity, Forced Labor, New Jersey 2009

Alia Imad Faleh Al Hunaity, a 43-year-old Hudson County woman also known as Alia Al Qaternah, was convicted Tuesday on all counts after a six-day federal trial for enslaving a Sri Lankan national for over nine years. The jury in Camden federal court deliberated just two hours before returning guilty verdicts on charges of forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain, and marriage fraud.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito laid it bare: “The defendant in this case treated the victim as a slave.” From the moment Al Hunaity brought the woman to the U.S. on a temporary visa in 2009, she ensured the victim overstayed and remained undocumented, trapping her in a cycle of unpaid domestic servitude. The victim was forced to cook, clean, and care for Al Hunaity’s three children across homes in Woodland Park and Secaucus—without pay, privacy, or freedom of movement.

The abuse was relentless and dehumanizing. The victim was made to sleep on a bed in public areas of the homes, including the kitchen. Her contact with the outside world was strictly limited. For years, she lived under constant surveillance and psychological control, denied medical care and basic autonomy. In 2018, the exploitation took a darker turn when Al Hunaity forced the woman into a fraudulent marriage—solely to secure her legal status and prolong the abuse without fear of deportation.

Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division condemned the manipulation: “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.” He emphasized the DOJ’s commitment to rooting out forced labor, no matter how hidden.

Al Hunaity now faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the forced labor charge alone. Sentencing is set for September 4, 2019. The case was built through a coordinated effort by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, with support from USCIS’s Newark Fraud Detection and National Security Unit.

Prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Macurdy and Alyson M. Oswald, and Trial Attorney Kate Hill of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, the case was part of the federal Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team initiative. The verdict stands as a rare public reckoning in a crime often buried behind closed doors—exposing how one woman weaponized immigration, marriage, and domestic labor to enslave another for nearly a decade.

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