marymac, I agree with you. The problem is, the laws of this land keep getting negotiated! It's not about human life, everything is based on race, sex etc. All of that is supposed to be blind and the playing field even! Welcome to America!

THE victimizers were illegal and were medical doctors here did they pay taxes did they pay soc sec tax on her little wage did they get it for tax fraud having employees without paying taxes on her wage ? the more sites i read the sicker i feel this was a sad and IMO brutal treatment of a person and relative from their own country. The feds charged these people so it was not a little ordeal.

great posts. On the other hand, the Cubs are getting pounded by the Dodgers tonite.... so life is good!

HOW many that call themselves American are actually that? where are your ancestors from,? were your original family roots started in The Land Of The Free? In this country abuse is agaonst the law and Mental and Emotional is as bad if not worse then physical, the physical pain heals much faster as to mental takes a lifetime if left untreated and then can still be there around every corner when a reminder appears!

gabby on option to leave and the court records and reports say leave to be deported,imprisoned and or killed by police what an option WAKE UP read the article websights that are in the chat boxes May you never have to be treated like this and live the life this young lady did! maybe you should and see what terrorizing and options are (IMO) Oh where are your ancestors originally from mine are Ireland and my ancestors were of the Irish that were inslaved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! per family tree documentation

This is totally wrong what happened to this woman. What I am wondering is how much the lawers who started this lawsuit are going for, and how much they will take...and how much the actuall victom will get. I bet she ends up with about 7000.00 and a bus ticket home...the lawers will get the other half million.

phatfly.....Well said!

Martinez arrived in the United States legally with a 6 month work visa obtained and sponsored by a Uncle of the Calimlim's. She was taken to the Calimlim's to work. They took her visa immediately for "Safekeeping" and had her work for them. Originally they paid her a minimal wage, which she sent home. Then they agreed to pay her family directly, and simply stopped paying the family after a few months. Her visa expired and they convinced her that if anyone discovered her police would arrest, imprison, and possibly kill her. Not a unrealistic idea to her, since that is what happened in her home country. The family went to extreme lengths to prevent any contact with the outside world. Including forbidding her to open the door, answer the phone, unless it was the special line they installed to check in on her, leave the house, look out the windows, post or recieve mail or possess money. She was expected to rise before 5:00 am prepare breakfast, and worked all day, until 11:00 pm. She had a bedroom in the basement which could be locked both from the inside and the outside. She was punished for infractions of the rules by being deprived of food, sleep, medical care and emotional shunning. The children grew up being taught that she was not to be spoken to in a friendly manner, because it was important for her to "understand her place". The children were sued because long after they became adults, and knew better, they participated in the continued slavery, and arranged for Martinez to come to clean the children's school apartments and pack them for moving. She was terrified of the police who eventually were tipped off to her existence and came to rescue her. I heard the testimony of the witnesses in this case first hand, and was amazed and repulsed at the lengths this family went to, to hide this woman, and their attitude that she was simply property they were entitled to use as they saw fit. This family stole this woman's youth and 20 years of her life. They took her opportunity for a family, due to the denial of medical care. This family enslaved her at a time when they were making hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I can't think of anyone who deserves to be sued more than them.

bennetonf1 hell ya she got 3 squares clothes and a bed .

Judge Randa also ruled that Miss Martinez is entitled to restitution worth $934,420 for working 15 hours a day and being underpaid well below the minimum wage during the last 19 years by the Calimlims.

First things first about illegal or not, this country was illegally taken from millions of people that already lived here (don’t give me the “we bought it crap.” No, we didn’t. And if you think survival of the fittest is an appropriate come back…why then are you so scared of other cultures?). So, when we start to judge right and wrong let’s first look at how we did get here and how we are standing here mostly because of atrocities.
Second, America is not an everyone must be the same country. It wasn’t until after ww2 that this push to Englishize America came to be. In fact, most of the people of this world speak more than one language. I was reading an international business humor book and found a very disturbing joke:

What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual
two languages? Bilingual
one language? American

I laughed and then felt like crying. I speak two languages and think that it should be a requirement to finish High School, not just a liberal arts degree at a respectable college. But hey, what I am I thinking… when Americans mostly back enculturation (it means the removing of all other cultural traditions when someone comes here to live). It’s sad, thinking that people should change themselves and traditional history just because they live in a new country. My dads family has been here for hundreds of years. I have ancestors that fought, and died for the north in the civil war. My moms side, I am part of their third generation in America. In three generations our family has no ties to any culture aspects my great grandparents carried with them to this country. I have no doubt in my mind that I am WORSE off because it. The really sad thing is we have become the United Stupid of America, and we want everyone to be stupid because it seems less threatening to what I call the other part of this country.

Ok, third … You do not have to be a citizen to own land here. You do not have to be a citizen to vacation here. You do not have to be a citizen to be protected by the law of this country. If you don’t pay your rent, your mortgage, or, hell, for a parking stall … no one has the right to enslave you or terrorize you ... though, some will try. If you break the law, it does not give someone else the right to break the law. The law is there to protect the PEOPLE, foreign and domestic inside of its jurisdiction. I always picture in my mind that this delusional righteous behavior people have is equated to the slow driver in the fast lane. They justify breaking the law and impeding traffic because they think that they are following the speed limit which means they are lawfully in the right, but they’re not. It’s against the law to not move over for faster traffic. Did I lose you with that analogy? How about, I don’t know, why do we feed people in jail? Well, not feeding them would be inhumane and against the law, regardless of what they did to get in there. One wrong does not make a second right.

Gabby,
I read in one of the articles that she was also cleaning the oldest ones office and medical equipment. He was an adult at the time. Perhaps that is why he was brought into it?

I still contend at 18, you know very little. And this girl was in a strange country being told some very scary things about what would happen if people saw her. I don't know how she could have felt she could turn to anyone for help. IMHO. I moved out at 16. Did I know enough, no. But I was in my country, my home town, with my childhood friends and family nearby. This girl had no one except the people that were using her. That was my point.

It's not our place to judge anyway. Whether the facts are all in place or not. It's irrelevent. None of us is perfect enough to "judge" anyone! The people who feel the need to "judge" are the people who need to look at themselves first. Again, I am speaking of me, first and foremost!

I had enough knowledge to move away from home from everything I knew to a place I had never ever seen before. And when things didn't go as I planned I got out. I'm not saying I believe what these people did was right. This girl in no way deserved the way she was being treated. And maybe she didn't feel comfortable leaving. Maybe she didn't know what she was getting into by coming here. Like the article said coming to America was like winning the lottery. They did ruin her American dream. The more I read about this the more I am siding with this girl. I think this couple deserve to sit in prison, or better yet make them do what they did to this girl. But why the children? Were they part of it as they got older? I don't think you can sue a person for something they did as a child can you?

One thing we do know is that Jefferson and Elnora Calimlim are sitting in a federal prison for what they did to this lady. That may not tell the whole story but it tells you something.

How much knowledge at 18? I was graduated from high school and in college. At 18 you're an adult and better have some knowledge.

And do what Gabby?
Who knows if she even could have gotten anywhere.
Did she have a passport? Money to buy a ticket home? The knowledge to do so, if she did?
We don't know enough information to know if she even truly believed that was an option.
Perhaps she felt if she tried to leave, she would be arrested or worse. We just don't know what she thought or what those people filled her head with.

What we do know is that these people preyed upon her. They used her. They abused her, perhaps not pysically but financially and emotionally. She came here from another country when she was the ripe old age of 18. How much knowledge did you have when you were 18? Enough to rationally think out her situation?

marymac4~they gave her the option to leave and she stayed!!!!!! I'm not saying this is her fault but she had the option to get out and she didn't.

One other thing as to telling her family it was ok here, sometimes we as children dont want our family to worry and dont tell the reality of our situation so as to not have them worry about us. I can say that as i have done it so my mother would not worry. also i agree people in abusive situations can leave but when they feel there are no resourses or family close by to help it makes it much harder to do so as i believe noone would stay if they felt they would really be safe if they left.

Ty janesvillian for the other sites posted now immigration is 3 fold. So the others who responded to this article as to all parties involved being illegal? A victim is a victim reguardless! As for yelling sometimes it takes that to get a point across to those that have tunnel vision (IMO) U just hope she is allowed to apply for citizenship and see OUR COUNTRY from the Land of The Free slogan we are so proud of!

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

I'm proud of the USA for allowing EVERYONE legal representation when they have been wronged. And this is no small wrong. The depth of the Calimlim's avarice and oppressive manipulation for almost two decades leaves me ill with disgust.

If I met Irma Martinez, I'd give her a hug. If I met The Calimlims, I'd spit on them.

Janesvillean - "I'm always pretty disgusted by these threads but this one is hitting new lows. Brown people! Different! Must hate! What harm has this woman done to any of you? Crawl back under your rocks and pray you are forgiven." I do not see anybody saying this??? There is no mention of the skin color it is the fact of illegal immigrants and the rights they get that the legal citizens don't. (White, brown, black, yellow, red etc)
According to the print of what she testifies to is she said she was free to leave and she decided to stay

moveon~I agree....there is more to the story than any of us will know. It doesn't seem as if she was physically or sexually abused. They just abused her mentally and emotionally. They played off her fear. But I still do not get how an illegal immagrant can use our legal system? I am NOT trying to be racist, it is just a question. If I go to Mexico and was held for 19 years as someones maid/nanny I could not use their system to sue the family. I just don't understand it.

I read it again I can not make a fair judgement because I do not know the whole story. I am more confused now because it says she was kept secret and couldn't go anywhere and then it says she went to church, the mall and vacations with the family. I do kinda think maybe for the family and her it was about not getting caught having an illegal immigrant.

I did not think she was illegal because of her name. I'm not dumb. I was refering to her being illegal because of them threating her with deportation. Sorry I jumped to conclusions. But that does not make me a racist and I was highly offended for being called one. I'm not saying this woman has no rights. She does have rights because she is human and no human deserves to be treated in such a way. But if she really wanted to leave I think she could have found at least one way in the 19 years she was imprisoned. Once again we do not know the whole story so all we can go off of is what the article says. And I in no way am saying the family was right at all.

First of all, there is a big difference between immigration and illegal immigrants.
Secondly, there is nothing racist about wanting our laws enforced.
Third, everyone has a right to their opinion. YELLING IN A POST doesn't prove your point any clearer.

We have a plethera of "Americans" who buck the laws of the land, fail to appreciate how blessed they actually are and refuse to live like a model American! Funny how people are so quick to condemn and critique people who come to this country for a chance at life. I agree whole heartedly that people that want to make America their home should adapt to the American culture and the laws of the land. It's what makes our country the strong country it has been and continues to be if people choose to wake up and take a look at themselves. "Me" included!

Nothing in the article says she was here illegally. The only inference that she's here illegally is that she was threatened with deportation. The assumption was made by the biggoted comments that she was "an illegal". Furthermore, if the allegations are at all true and she was afraid to seek help, if she was here illegally, how would she obtain citizenship if she was threatened to stay in the home? If it's true they were paying her unfair wages, the family wouldn't have wanted her to become a citizen for the very reason you're all complaining about...she'd have rights to press charges and sue under our laws because she'd be a citizen.
*
Racist, biggoted, it doesn't really matter and in this case they're one in the same because some jumped to conclusions that she was here illegally simply because of her name.
*
This is not much different than our ancestors coming here. They were not legal when they arrived...they had to become citizens to stay here. There is nothing in this article to suggest she didn't speak English. Under the conditions, would she have been allowed to learn anyway? My guess is that she was solicited a job by this family to come here and make money for her family, and when she was brought here/arrived, things changed.
*
The bottom line is nobody deserves to be treated this way. Before you lay blame on the victim, get all the facts.

Obviously the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT thought it serious enough to mount a trial and convict this family of these actions. If anyone should be deported, it is the Calimlim family -- themselves never naturalized -- who committed this horrible felonious crime, and they themselves came from the Philippines. If you want to direct your xenophobic ire against anyone, it should be them, not the innocent cousin they forced to be their maid.
http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=124&a...
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/Novembe...
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx...
.
I'm always pretty disgusted by these threads but this one is hitting new lows. Brown people! Different! Must hate! What harm has this woman done to any of you? Crawl back under your rocks and pray you are forgiven.

moveon read the article trish has in her message

IMO people like those in prison sometimes go to other countries to get nanny"s and it is legal huh......... BEFORE YOU JUDGE THIS VICTIM WHICH SHE WAS HAVE A LITTLE COMPASSION AND THE RIGHT TO SUE IN OUR COUNTRY IS LEGAL NO MATTER WHO IT IS. TO BAD THOSE OF YOU DONT HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THIS AND WHERE DOES IT SAY SHE CANT SPEAK ENGLISH?

Well said Trish

marymac4 I agree nobody deserves that but there are always two sides to a story and none of us have the whole story. As for slaves - every nationality has slavery some are just more pronounced than others.

I remember when this story came out in 2006. It really is no different then why women stay with their abusers or why children don't tell when they are being abused.

They not only played on her fears, they created fear in her. The right thing these people should have done, had they wanted to be right, was to help this woman become an American citizen, pay her fair wages and provide her with some security. They were from the same country as her and they knew how hard things are there, how poor the people are and how hard the struggle. America is a slice of heaven and this young, 18 year old girl took the chance to better her life and the life of her family. And these people used and abused her.

Yes, I do agree that if someone wants to make America their home, they should live by our laws(but, lets remember, many Americans don't) and speak our language. Just as my family did when they immigrated to this country! But, in all honesty, it didn't seem like this woman was given that opportunity. Read the story. They controlled her not only by their threats but with her fear.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx...

sheesh! quit yellin' at me!!!

NO HUMAN BEING DESERVES THIS REGUARDLESS OF THEIR LEGAL STATUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! LINCOLN FREED THE SLAVES YOU WHO THINK THIS IS RIGHT NEED TO BE TREATED AS SUCH. in my opinion DID SHE HAVE A CHANCE TO BECOME LEGAL IT DONT SEEM SO. DID THE SLAVES IN THE PAST HAVE A CHANCE TO WALK AWAY NO THEY DIDNT. SOME OF THE COMMENTS ON HERE ARE SICK!!!!! IMO. MY NIECE WENT TO BE A FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENT AND WAS ENSLAVED FOR OVER A YEAR BEFORE SOMEONE HELPED HER AND GOT US A MESSAGE IT TOOK 8 MONTHS MORE TO GET HER HOME. SHE WAS IN BRAZIL

Exactly Spark. Our ancestors came legally and also had to learn english.

Don't bring ancestors and all that into this. There's nothing wrong with wanting people to better their lives, but do it legally and don't expect everyone else to take the blame. Not everyone is a racist just because they feel this way.

19 Years and she never had an opportunity to escape?
I'm sure there is WAY more to the story here.

Was I being racist??? Cuz I don't think I was. How is me being mad that an illegal alien in this country can sue a CITIZEN because they "enslaved" her being racist? I do not apprecitate that at all.

So she was here illegally to begin with?
Sure, it was awful that she was enslaved in a mansion.
But personally, I am tired with illegal aliens picking and choosing which laws in our country they want to abide by. Then when something bad happens to them, they cry discrimination, or ask for our laws to help them.

You biggots do realize that almost all of us are here thanks to immigration. Our ancestors came here to escape opression and seek oportunity for a better life. It's unbelievable how racist people still are in this country. You make me sick.

You people are unbelievable.

I don't agree with her being illegal but these people are in prison for 4 years because of this...I don't think they just threatened her.

Washawaythefear - Give me a break. She could have left.

Wow, 8,600 sq ft home. Any way whe was not enslaved physically, so she doesn't have much of a case to me. Sounds like she had a nice house and place to work and could of left anytime she wanted.

Heck, I'll be a Nanny in a house that size.

JayT this is America, read the statue of liberty.....regardless of her status nobody should be treated that way.

I agree. If it was so horrible here then why didn't she let them deport her. She obviously didn't like it if she is suing them now. And is she legal yet? Cuz our system is totally messed up if a person who is not even a legal citizen can sue someone who is a legal citizen.

Irma Martinez shouldn't waste the American tax dollars to save her immigrant BUTT. American taxes should be spent deporting her. Thanks for your services GOOD BYE!!