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gobarganesh
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Posted on 01-29-08 11:22
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Dozens of Nepalese workers missing from Ala. plant
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- About 100 people who came from Nepal to work at a north Alabama factory seemingly vanished from a pair of apartment buildings, along with a lot of furniture and appliances, and can't be located, officials said Tuesday.
Immigration agents are trying to determine what happened to the Nepalese workers, among hundreds brought to the United States to work at a DVD factory operated by Cinram Inc., said Lauren Bethune, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Homeland Security.
"We do not in any way consider it a security threat, but we do think it is important," she said.
A Huntsville television station, WAAY-TV, first reported on the missing workers.
Cinram's human resources director, Peter Hassler, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. But a spokesman for a company that recruited the workers for Cinram said a contact in Nepal believes many of them have returned home.
"Most of the people he was talking to said they came to America, did what they wanted to do and went back home," said Doug Wilson, president of Ambassador Personnel in Thomasville, Ga. "These are people with pretty strong family ties."
Mary and Tim Snopl told the TV station they rented apartments in two buildings last fall to about 240 workers from Nepal. But Mary Snopl said scores of the workers are now missing, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of furniture, televisions and kitchenware.
"I don't know if they're living in Huntsville or somewhere else, I just know they aren't living with us and they aren't working at Cinram," she said.
Wilson said his company was seeking a list of items believed to be missing.
Reports last fall said Cinram had hired about 1,350 foreign workers to package DVDs at its plant in Huntsville. Cinram - which describes itself as the world's largest maker of pre-recorded multimedia products - said it turned to foreign workers because the area job market couldn't fill its needs.
Bethune said about 100 immigrants were believed to be missing. Agents are trying to determine exactly what type of visas they used to enter the United States.
"It's possible that they had work visas, they expired, and they went home," she said.
The workers can earn $8 an hour working 12-hour shifts packing DVDs in boxes. Besides Nepal, Cinram has used foreign workers from Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Ukraine
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Gazadi
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Posted on 01-30-08 4:55
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Bob Marley,
Why would they hire somebody from Nepal and issue visa for only 7 months?I mean think how far is Nepal from here and those companies knew that how much we need to spend our money and time.Its not a game to be played with us and do watever they want.If they want workers only for 7 months wat is the meaning of hiring workers from the other side of globe?That doesn't make sense.Why to issue a visa?Why not Mexicans,Puerto Ricans or sb who is close?These companies are just inducing people to work illegally.Same thing as US government..They know everything about illegal immigrants and produce statistics every year but still do not take any action unless sb is caught on some kind of offenses?
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ImI
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Posted on 01-30-08 4:56
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Dude BOB , I agree with you: You are the one to be blamed ![](../chat/smileys/m-tongue.gif) ..now don't be smokin too much ![](../chat/smileys/m-smile.gif) haha...Yaaa Maan ...salla Nepal ma ACCOUNTABILITY bhane word nai chaina K garne?jasle j gare pani huncha ...NEW NEPAL - FREE COUNTRY. well OLD NEPAL WAS LIKE THAT TOO.. so WTF
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Poon-Hill
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Posted on 01-30-08 5:21
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Well $8.00 an hr., do u think they can pay their loan from Nepal to get here in 6 or 7 months, and on top of that provide some to feed their families back home plus feed themselves?? We are not in same page here, so forget about it.
Bob, refer to Gazadi.....and don't blame yourself.
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Bob Marley
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Posted on 01-30-08 5:31
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Gazadi I'm not an expert on this, but I think the whole concept of "visitor or work" visa is mostly for the mexican and the other Spanish speaking countries. There's always loophole, which we can be sure there will me more. I think the DVD wrapping company might have found one of the hole. And you're right , it doesn't make any sense. I hope they get investigated too. It's his stupidity that he paid 15 lakhs but no matter what, America is generous. $8/hour (7 month) for someone who cannot hardly speak Nepali (forget about English and other skills), that's a fair amount. We're not African level poor, we're just too greedy. What do you expect the US gov to do for him? Give him a jackpot? IMI, "Accountability" what a perfect word. thanks
Last edited: 30-Jan-08 05:33 PM
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vindicated
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Posted on 01-31-08 2:25
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i am not sure that the naive ppl who couldnt speak proper english were smart enough to know, while still in nepal, that they were given a work visa for some freakin 7 months only. they probably believed that after they pay that 15-17 lakhs they could go to USA where they could work their ass off to pay their debts and provide a better life for their family.
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davechappelle
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Posted on 01-31-08 2:51
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Well if those guys were not smoking crack (which I think they were not), any chimpanzee could tell them that they would not be able to recover all that money in 7 months. But guess what, I think they're still better off, what kind of fortune would some uneducated fools pull in Nepal anyway? They knew that they had to become illegal the moment they got their visa. There is no other way around it. You know, same thing... Nepal ma bhae ni Bhada majnu parthyo, America ma bhada maje ta hariyo dollar kamaincha. Ajai if they can please their Indian bosses they might become GC holders in 3-4 years. While all you students are toiling away on your F1, these people will have their shiny new GC's. Check this Link out btw, it says 17 million Americans can't speak English very well while 7 million can't even SPEAK English. God Bless America..thats all I gotta say http://www.proenglish.org/issues/offeng/census.html
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ekloyatri15
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Posted on 01-31-08 8:39
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They have been placed in wanted list by INS ...
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Sheetalb
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Posted on 01-31-08 9:28
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Why did they take so much loan in the first place? 17 lakhs is not a joke. In Nepal people want to earn lots of moeny with little bit of work. They are not educated, so not have any skills and they expected to be paid how much $30/hour??? This is ridiculous.
With so much money, they could have done something else in Nepal, but no, that is hard work and who wants to do hardwork? Dollars grows in tree in US and they would rather come here and pick them up. No hard work for Nepalis. Period...
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Detroit
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Posted on 01-31-08 10:01
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Pats
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Posted on 01-31-08 10:40
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To Poonhill and others who think they did the right thing under the bad situation,
You cannot cover your mistake by doing illegal activities. This news is just in local media and in internet right now. However, it has potential to make it to CNN and Foxnews headline. If the immigration debate heats up and FoxNews and Bill O'Reilly picks this news up, they will definitely use it to drum up their anti-immigration support and all the Nepalese wanting to get a visa, wanting a job to support through school, etc. will be in trouble.
They are already in the INS wanted list now. I am sure Homeland security is looking for them and this has potential to hurt many other Nepalis unrelated to this incident, who may get caught when Homeland Securoity is looking for these people - like students who work 20 hours to support their school tuitions. This may also lead to further scrutiny in obtaining visa and getting a job for Nepalese.
So you cannot see this incident in isloation. Every action has consequences. I think in this case the negative consequences (trouble for many Nepalis in the US with visa, employment, deportation) significantly outweighs the posivite consequence (paying their Rs. 17 lakh debt). However, I know Nepalis do not think this way.
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Contour
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Posted on 01-31-08 10:49
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What they did is very stupid,,,It will definately creat a difficult situation for nepali people living in US directly , indirectly. They have done right for their own purpose, if i were one of them i would do the same rather than flying back to nepal. But, this incident surely will put students and all other nonimmigrant people living in US in a difficult situation. In many states, Students are already facing lots of problems working in cash off campus, and without working off-campus i dont think more than 90% of nepali student can survive in US.
This incident is going to poisoned nepali student's life in US.
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CHYAME KANCHA
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Posted on 01-31-08 10:59
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OMG
17 lakhs for a visa,
they would have a good life with that money back home, rather than working for years to clear the debt, away from home and family. In the first place they are dumba$$, they could start a good business back home. Their famile members must be proud that these people are in US, earn alot of money and become millionire within years. this is the problem in nepal, they dont knoe the real situation here
in second place this will certainly create problem for the rest in US and those trying to come here, they never thought of that-so they are stupid.
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Pats
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Posted on 01-31-08 12:44
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I feel sorry for these guys but see what have they done. I do not care about the superficial Nepali pride but it really has potential to hurt tens of thousands of Nepalese brothers and sisters lives in the US. Unfortunately, Nepalese with lower income/lesser skill bracket and illegal ones are likely to bear most of the brunt from the backlash.
It already has hit Foxnews.com (although it is on the bottom). I hope it will not make the headlines and I hope Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbubh and their rightwingers do not pick this news. They can make a hell of noise making Nepalis' lives miserable.
If you look at blogosphere, you can see the reactions and what people are saying about our countrymen (many of the criticisms are directed towards the Company as well).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1962676/posts http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2797750
Only if we Nepalese ever thought about consequences of our actions to other people, this would not have happened.
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sur
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Posted on 01-31-08 2:01
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Dolakhali
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Posted on 01-31-08 2:20
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I don't understand why people are pouring so much surprise and mixed reactions with this. Chill out guys! How many of us really came here just to study steadily and go back home after completing the studies. Tell me monetary value has nothing to do with us coming here. So did those guys, they came here just to fulfill those dreams that all of us have which is not remotely possible for common folk like us in Nepal. So many have done it including our so called celebrity, nobody raise the voice then. They have seen how we act upon when we go back once in 3,4 5 years and spend money. How will they know what we have not done just to survive here and probably the money we spent in Nepal might be from Credit Card. Do you think American didn't know that these people were not coming back when they issue them visa. This is all game, how will their economy run without cheap labor. Help them if you could otherwise stop whining.
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Poon-Hill
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Posted on 01-31-08 2:34
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Yeah Pats, lets hear from you. What would you do if you were one of them. Situation: You are already here and found out that you could not make the amount of money that you loaned for coming here, and you have to go back after 7 months. We all know the universal logic,"Think about yourself first, then for others" right??
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abodh
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Posted on 01-31-08 2:49
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Hey, Guys!
Missing those hardworking yet victimzed people should not be news. They are obviously looking for settle down with reliable wages paid job. What should be news is - who charged them 17 to 25 Lakhs NRS. I saw these stories in US base websites. Why can't they dare to investigate from journalistic point of view and make the wrong doings by these thugs? There is big rumors that some thugs from Baltimore area are involved in charging these people big sum but so called US base journalists is not writing unbiased news. Shouldn't these thugs be brought to the public light?
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Pats
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Posted on 01-31-08 3:14
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Poonhill,
I think doing the right thing is better alternative than doing the best thing for yourself in the long run. This philosophy has really helped me.
I agree these guys are victims although running away was a very bad decision. I felt sorry looking at their faces in the video. For people who are still working in the factory, they may be able to use the legal channel to recover Rs. 17 lakh they paid. According to Nepali Post, the Nepali agent is in the US. They can go after the Nepali agent, the American Temporary Staffing Company that used Nepali Agents, and even Cinram itself. Cinram should have known what kind of staffing company they were using.
I hope these guys can get into contact with some pro-bono immigration lawyers/interest group in Alabama. Or they should tell the TV crew in the interview that the agents duped them $25K fees by luring them with attractive compensation and good lifestyle and bringing them to Alabama with $8/hr job.
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natyavaruval
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Posted on 01-31-08 4:06
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Once in Singapore i`ve asked manche how much you paid to come here, replied that have to fork out $usd 4000/++ not included visa, agent and so on, when asked again how much to be in USA from Nepal ~ all out from the hidden fees and agent cost /commissions / falsing and duplicate doc,passport/ tickets / thai transit agent -Hk - agent - etc`s will amount to $usd 20 000/.....phew, then once again landed in Usa the manche had to throw the Nepal passport n become assylum! ( neva had to think about return to Nepal) oh what a hearts shaking story......its a point of no return........wish they keep on movin on right track!
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sajhakoraja
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Posted on 01-31-08 4:17
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Now ICE (formerly INS) might monitor sajha and conduct raids this summer in Ocean City, Maryland, where we all know many Nepalis go for seasonal work. Bet a lot of them are looking for Indian and Pakistani markets and restaurants for under-the-table work, too, as they often hire Nepalis illegally. Of course, these workers are going to take their chances that they'll fall through the cracks in the system. Interesting to see how many will get caught.
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