Chicago man seeks justice from Saudi Arabia over kafala

Ahmed Abdul Majeed, 67, says Saudi Arabia’s kafala system led to years of forced labor and wage theft, after his passport was seized and he was made to work for free. Now living in Chicago, he says he has received no response from Indian officials and is count

When Ahmed Abdul Majeed arrived in Chicago, he didn’t do it expecting answers. He expected time to run out.

Majeed is 67. He was born in India and spent more than 40 years living in Saudi Arabia, working at a travel agency that booked trips for the royal family and helped build the company where he worked.

For years, he said, his days were defined by labor—“Seven days a week,” he said, “I used to work a lot.”

The turning point, he says, came after he left Saudi Arabia. He now lives in the Devon Avenue Indian community with his son. Ahmed Abdulumer. who is an American citizen and works as a food delivery driver. Abdulumer. 34. brought his father’s case to attention. writing that his father was a victim of forced labor and human trafficking.

Majeed’s account asks readers to confront the kafala system: a long-standing framework in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries that. as Abdulumer wrote. places migrant workers in “rightless limbo.” Abdulumer said migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have “little to no control over their lives. ” and that the status quo has enabled exploitation that includes “exploiting. stealing wages. imprisoning. raping. falsifying charges and killing countless workers over many decades.” In his description. the system strips workers of “freedom and dignity. ” silences complaints. and gives employers near-total control.

Majeed’s story follows that description closely. He said he spent four decades in an office until he was threatened with arrest. He said his passport was seized, then he was forced to work for free for six months. He added that he was made to sell the family home in India and hand over the proceeds—about $100. 000—to get his passport back and be allowed to leave the country.

When he talks about what he thought would come next, his voice carries a mixture of anger and disbelief.

“I’m supposed to have a good life with my family after serving the four decades,” he said. “We built a company from scratch. I never expected the person who generated millions of dollars to the company end up selling his own property.”

After leaving Saudi Arabia, Majeed began trying to get what he calls satisfaction—about how he was treated. He said he landed in India on September 8, 2020. “Immediately I went to the prime minister’s office,” he said. He traveled by train with his son, who has four children.

He said he and his son tried to meet the prime minister of India. He said they were not met. Instead, he said the prime minister’s office forwarded his case to the Indian embassy in Riyadh. He said there was “No response.”

Whether there are other survivors in Chicago is hard to measure, Majeed’s case included. “How many survivors of kafala system abuses are in Chicago?. Numbers are impossible to find,” the account reports. The Indian consulate said it knows nothing about such cases. “No one from the Indian diaspora mentioned or complained of any such thing as yet. ” said Sanjeev Kumar Pal. the press officer at the Consulate General of India in Chicago.

In the city, advocates describe a different set of barriers for workers—sometimes overlapping in tone, sometimes not in geography. Shelly Ruzicka. communications director at Arise Chicago. a West Side group that helps immigrant workers recover stolen wages. said organizers sometimes encounter cases connected to visa programs and other forms of labor exploitation.

“We’re grateful it’s not something super common,” Ruzicka said. “We have some stories, particularly with au pairs, sometimes with the J-1 visa.” She was referring to problems in the United States, not Saudi Arabia.

Ruzicka’s concern now points to a wider fear among immigrant communities here: that legal protections could erode just when workers most need them. With the rise of ICE and immigrants being “demonized and shorn of legal protections. ” she said. the threat of the United States ending up with “its own de facto kafala system is a real possibility.”.

“Yes,” Ruzicka agreed. “We are very worried about that, under this administration. We’re starting to hear stories. We’re seeing a dilution of [immigrant workers’] rights. They are made to be more fearful, reluctant to speak up. Immigrant workers’ bosses are feeling bolder. Different types of abuses are fairly common in low paid jobs — regular injuries on high speed machines. not being paid overtime. things like that we are seeing on a regular basis.”.

Back in Chicago, Majeed is focused less on policy debates than on his own stalled pursuit.

He describes his decision to keep going the way a person describes survival—simple, immediate, uncompromising.

“The day I landed here, I decided to fight for justice,” he said. “There are so many people like my case. The Saudis have to realize: you cannot deny justice for the people who serve you. The world must know.”

Yet he said that after years of effort, he has gotten “zero response.”

That leaves him with one question that hangs over his life now: will a local newspaper be enough to move a diplomatic and legal system that has shown no urgency?

Asked how a story would matter, Majeed said it will push action.

“Once it is published in the Sun-Times, I am sure Saudi embassy will take note and they will contact me and I will get justice before I pass this world,” he said. “I am sure about this.”

If nothing happens, he said, he will not stop.

“I cannot,” he said. “But I am sure, a newspaper like yours, which millions of people read, the Saudi embassy will take note. They will contact me and I will get justice.”

Chicago news Saudi Arabia kafala system forced labor human trafficking immigrant workers rights Devon Avenue Ahmed Abdul Majeed Arise Chicago ICE