Enslaved Filipina to sue for damages

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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.”

The 103-page report added more shocking revelations into the Calimlim’s treatment of Martinez.

“When the Calimlims had visitors to the house or hosted social events at the Still Point Trail house, they made Martinez stay in her room and did not permit her to leave her room, even to use the bathroom… Martinez had to stay in her room for so long that she awoke with stomach and back pain from lack of access to a bathroom.”

In defense, the Calimlim’s lawyers said that Martinez working, as a maid was not slavery but a living arrangement normal in Philippine culture.

However, the youngest daughter Christina Calimlim testified that a family rule forbade any members of the household to discuss Martinez’s existence with anyone outside of the family.

The DOJ stated that several long-time friends and immediate neighbors of the Calimlims – including the godmothers of two of the Calimlim children – testified that they had no idea that Martinez existed, although she lived with the Calimlim’s for 19 years.

In 2004, Federal Authorities raided the Calimlim’s home after receiving a tip from an ex-wife of one of the Calimlim’s son.

On September 29, 2004, federal agents raided the Calimlim’s home and found Martinez hiding in the closet of her bedroom in the basement, trembling.

The trial lasted a week and half and the jury deliberated for half a day.

“It is a basic and fundamental human right to be free, and no person should ever be forced to live in a world of fear, virtual isolation and servitude,” said Brian Falvey, Resident Agent-in-Charge of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Martinez now lives in a Chicago apartment and works at a perfume store. She was granted a rare visa for victims of severe trafficking cases.

(www.asianjournal.com)

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