A man was beaten up by his relative at a grocery store in New York, video of which went viral on social media. The video shows a man humiliating and beating up his relative working at his shop in New York. The employer is a native of Bhavpura village in Gandhinagar and the worker is a native of Jetalpur in Mehsana. They had illegally moved to the US for a better life.
Three pieces of footage from the store’s CCTV camera – recorded on March 18 and 23 – show the employer, a bearded man, beating and abusing his relative. In the second footage, the employer’s wife is seen abusing the man and in the third, the employer is seen kicking him after which the latter walks away in pain.
In an audio clip the employer’s relatives back home are heard confronting him for beating and abusing the man and making him do unpaid work. One of them accuses the employer of taking moral high ground when in fact he too had moved to the US by illegal means and was also involved in illegal activities. To this, the employer is heard saying that he was giving shelter to an illegal immigrant at his risk.
A source known to the family said, “The employer and his wife settled in the US around a decade ago after they got their U-visas (U non-immigrant status). They later called a relative from Mehsana to join them and he too moved to the US illegally.”
According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, a U-visa is set aside for victims of certain crimes, who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or govt officials in investigation or prosecution of criminal activity. After the man from Mehsana moved to the US six years ago, he was allegedly treated like a bonded labourer. In the aforementioned audio clip, the employer is also heard being accused of not paying his relative any remuneration and subjecting him to cruelty.
Another source from the victim’s village said that incidents of death of illegal immigrants at the US border are no deterrent for the villagers, a large number of whom are keen on moving to the US.
In Jan 2022, four of a family from Dingucha in Gandhinagar died while crossing the Canada-US border in the extreme cold conditions.
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