Workers are accusing a Hindu sect known as BAPS of luring them from India and forcing them to work for $1 an hour as they build a New Jersey temple.
Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, which has built temples around the world, is being accused of exploiting hundreds of low-caste men, who say they’ve been confined to the temple grounds in trailers hidden from clear view, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday and initially reported by the New York Times.
The project has been years in the making, and an FBI spokeswoman told NYT that agents were on the scene in Robbinsville, N.J. While a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined to comment, NYT reports that those familiar with the situation say the FBI’s involvement is believed to be in connectiroon to “claims of labor and immigration law violations.”
Workers say they were promised standard working hours and were brought to the U.S. via religious visas, or R-1 visas, the wage claim states, before they were asked to sign several documents in English. The men ended up working roughly 13 hours a day operating machinery and lifting heavy objects for $450 per month, according to lawyers.
“They thought they would have a good job and see America. They didn’t think they would be treated like animals, or like machines that aren’t going to get sick,” said Swati Sawant, an immigration lawyer in New Jersey.
The lawsuit claims the workers were fenced-in and forbidden to talk to visitors, put on a diet of lentils and potatoes, and had their pay docked for minor violations.
“I respectfully disagree with the wage claim,” Kanu Patel, the chief executive of BAPS, told the Times.
