Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

MILWAUKEE - A 42-year-old Filipino woman from Camarines Sur, Philippines who was allegedly enslaved by a family for 19 years is seeking $5.4 million in damages.

According to the Associated Press, Irma Martinez filed a federal lawsuit last week in the Wisconsin Eastern District Court against her former employer Jefferson and Elnora Calimlim and their three adult children, Jefferson Jr., Christopher and Christina.

Martinez had worked for the Calimlim’s, who are also Filipino immigrants, as a maid and nanny of their three children in their $1.2 million Milwaukee home and paid about $1,000 a year for her services, according to court records.

The couple and their oldest son Jefferson Jr. were indicted on federal charges in May 2006. Jefferson and Elnora are currently each serving a four-year prison term after being convicted at a federal jury trial of four felony counts of harboring an illegal immigrant for financial gain, conspiracy to harbor an illegal immigrant, forced labor and attempted forced labor. Their son, 33-year-old Jefferson, received three years of probation for his role in Martinez’s enslavement.

Sweet Nightmare

According to court records, then 19-year-old Irma Martinez had worked as a maid for the Calimlim’s, who was both doctors, starting in 1985. For the next 19 years, Martinez worked 15 hour-days for seven-days-a-week, was not allowed to be seen in public, did not have access to medical care, and not allowed to fly back home to visit her family in the Philippines.

The Calimlim’s also “controlled all of Martinez’s communications with the outside world” and “repeatedly warned Martinez that she would be subject to arrest, imprisonment, and deportation if discovered,” according to court records.

“The Calimlim’s controlled every aspect of Martinez’s life,” stated the US Department of Justice court briefs. “Martinez was not allowed to leave the house alone or to open the front door… In the ten years that Martinez live in the Calimlims’ house on Tanala Drive, she cannot remember walking out the front door even once.”

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