May 14, 2021
Workers at a Hindu temple filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging the sect had lured them from India, forced them to stay on the New Jersey temple s grounds and paid them about $1 an hour to perform grueling labor. According to lawyers for the workers, Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Hindu sect with close relations to India s ruling party, may have exploited hundreds of low-caste men as they spent years building the temple. The workers were brought to the U.S. on R-1 visas, and say they were promised jobs with standard work hours and time off. The temple denied claims of underpaying the workers. The New York Times
Newsroom Navigation From left: Veronica Leal, Maria Isabel Sierra Mosso and Santa Arias pose in front of a sign on Thompson Street in Manhattan during a hunger strike for excluded workers.
New Jersey Approves Fund for Undocumented Immigrants and Excluded Workers
Undocumented immigrants and excluded workers will receive $40 million of the state’s $275 million economic relief package.
Published on May 10, 2021 7:16AM EDT
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday that undocumented immigrants and excluded workers will receive $40 million of the state’s $275 million economic relief package. The move comes after workers excluded from past state and federal relief protested and embarked on hunger strikes. New Jersey residents who were excluded, regardless of immigration status or whether they filed taxes, are able to claim a one-time payment of $1,000, with a household maximum of $2,000. People with incomes over about $55,000 won’t be eligible. Advocates said this was