Slave Next Door (9 page)

find out. With a system of assigning visas that works against the recipi-

ents, no programs to monitor them once they are here, and a catch-22

of negative options should they attempt to escape, the plight of the

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3 8 / S L AV E S I N T H E L A N D O F T H E F R E E

household slave cannot improve. The situation cannot change without a

serious redirection of the government’s priorities away from the

“employer” and toward the oversight and protection of the domestic

worker. The fact that the State Department keeps no record of B-1

domestic workers would be simply bizarre if it were not so dangerous.

Today it is not even possible to know how many of these workers are in

the country. Is it surprising that this backdoor into the America work-

force is regularly exploited by criminals?

The importation of domestic workers on special visas by foreign diplo-

mats and employees of the World Bank, United Nations, and IMF also

needs radical changes. It is estimated that some thirty thousand workers

have come to the United States on these visas over the past ten years, but

no one knows how much abuse occurs at the hands of diplomats, since no

government agency tracks cases. In 2007 the State Department issued one

thousand visas for personal servants of diplomats.15 Some diplomats

brought in two or even three servants. While the diplomat has to show a

contract for the worker in order to get the special visa, no one ever checks

to see if the terms of these contracts are kept. Carol Pier of Human Rights

Watch explained, “The special visa program allowing international agen-

cies and embassies to sponsor the workers is at the heart of the problem.

It leaves migrants very vulnerable to serious abuse. . . . Most workers do

not speak English and do not know where to go or how to complain. But

if they do complain, and they’re still with their employers, they risk being

fired, losing their legal status and being deported, which scares them

more.”16 When a foreign diplomat is discovered to be enslaving his ser-

vant, he’s protected by diplomatic immunity. Normally, in the event of a

scandal, diplomats will simply be called home or reassigned outside the

United States, with the care and support of the domestic slaves they have

victimized falling on charities and the taxpayer. Occasionally, a freed

slave is able to win a judgment for back wages in a U.S. court, but col-

lecting that award usually proves impossible.

Why should foreign diplomats have the right to import their own ser-

vants without legal accountability? If other foreigners working in

America want to hire a maid or gardener, they have to go to an employ-

ment service like everyone else. Is the suburban home of a World Bank

or IMF employee so secretive, sensitive, or precious that an American

worker (or labor inspector) cannot be trusted to enter it? A special and

unmonitored class of visas for “personal servants” for diplomats who

cannot be prosecuted or punished is a system doomed to abuse and

injustice. The fox has not just been put in charge of the henhouse; it has

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H O U S E S L AV E S / 3 9

been given immunity from punishment. There is an easy way out of this:

end the system of special visas. There are a number of sound legal argu-

ments for ending immunity in slavery cases.17 If foreign diplomats want

servants, let them hire servants from employment agencies like everyone

else. Abolishing the special servant visas would go a long way to ending

the dilemma faced by prosecutors over diplomatic immunity and would

reduce the number of people caught in domestic slavery.

T H E C O S T O F D O M E S T I C S L AV E RY

Three poor women from India alleged that they had been held in the rich

Washington, D.C., suburb of McLean, Virginia, by a Kuwaiti diplomat.

They reported working sixteen-hour days and receiving rough treat-

ment. One of them, Kumari Sabbithi, told of being beaten with a wooden

box and a package of frozen chicken. “They would beat me with their

hands. They would push me against the wall. They would hold my head

and drag me,” she recalled.18 When, after yet another physical assault,

the abuse became too much, Sabbithi ran into the night. Clad only in a

summer maid’s dress against the winter cold, she knocked on the door of

a nearby house. The neighbor, Hector Rodriguez, took her in. After the

police were called, Sabbithi’s Kuwaiti “employers” denied everything

and stood on their diplomatic immunity. Rodriguez asked the question

that the government needs to answer: “How is it possible—in the coun-

try where freedom is relished—that these atrocities are allowed to

happen under the umbrella of diplomatic immunity?”19

Because of people like Rodriguez more enslaved domestics are emerg-

ing, but the toll on their lives is high. Xiomara Salgado, a psychothera-

pist, counsels abused domestics in the Washington, D.C., region.

Testifying before Congress, she explained, “Most people living in slave-

like conditions develop what is known as PTSD [posttraumatic stress

disorder], a pattern of responses involving among other symptoms:

recurrent and intrusive thoughts and images of the traumatic experi-

ence, nightmares, flashback episodes, intense psychological distress,

insomnia, and hypervigilance. It is common for these domestic workers

to experience self-blaming and guilt.”20 Salgado also talked about how,

for the ex-slaves she treated, the impact of domestic slavery continues

long after they are freed:

After feeling betrayed by their employers—and some of them by their own

parents who gave them to these “patrones”—it is hard for them to trust

strangers. The social isolation they have been subjected to has made them

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4 0 / S L AV E S I N T H E L A N D O F T H E F R E E

even more distrustful and vulnerable. Their self-esteem suffers consider-

able damage after prolonged periods of maltreatment, exploitation, and

humiliation. They feel inadequate, powerless, and worthless. The sus-

tained abuse and exploitation also generate anger. Anger they do not dare

to direct to their abusers out of fear of retaliation; anger that builds inside

aggravating their anxiety and depression and worsening their psychologi-

cal and physical conditions.21

And here we come to the ugly end of an ugly story of household slaves

in America. While enslaving people is made easier through government

regulations and immunities that shield slaveholders, provisions for the

care of their victims are scant and arbitrary. Remember that enslaved

domestics are not just robbed of years of labor; they are often tortured,

assaulted, starved, and raped. Once freed, they often have to rely on

strangers and the help of a few charities dedicated to their aid. If they

are lucky enough to be recognized as victims of human trafficking, they

become eligible for certain supports like health care, psychiatric help,

housing, and food. But the agencies that are tasked with delivering this

help say that the low level of funds awarded means that they, and the

victim of slavery, are forced to make the devil’s own choices: psychiatric

help
or
housing; legal support
or
medical care. So while their employers

have cheated them of their wages, our government tries to run their

rehabilitation on the cheap.22

W H AT A R E W E G O I N G T O D O A B O U T T H I S ?

Scattered across our country, hidden in lovely suburban homes, are house

slaves. These enslaved domestic workers share a number of characteris-

tics. They are almost universally female; they have virtually all come to

America on the promise of fair and legal work; they have taken a chance

on working away from home to better themselves and better support

their families, but instead are isolated and alone, no longer control their

own lives, and suffer degradation, assault, and slavery. They are believed

to make up more than a quarter of all the slaves in America.23

Remarkably, these slaves are in many ways easier to find and free

than many of the other types of slaves in the country. Traffickers who

enslave women in prostitution will regularly move them from place to

place to keep them confused and law enforcement off track, but domes-

tic slaves are sedentary for long periods, even decades. While they are

regularly hidden away, their duties often have them hanging out wash-

ing, walking children to school, taking out garbage, or doing other

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H O U S E S L AV E S / 4 1

household tasks that place them, however fleetingly, in public view. A

number of domestic slaves come to freedom each year through the

actions of “Good Samaritans”—neighbors or community members

who reach out to a woman who seems troubled, frightened, or in

danger. Often they are motivated by a vague but strong feeling—some-

times lasting months, or even years—that “something isn’t right,” only

to be shocked when they discover just how wrong the situation really is.

What is discouraging is that for every person who takes the risk of

reaching out to someone who might be enslaved, there are countless

others who choose not to get involved—“countless” because we have no

idea how many people are seeing situations that don’t look right, seeing

slaves without knowing it, but then looking the other way. A neighbor

might fail to act because he or she doesn’t know the warning signs of

slavery. In fact, they are pretty simple:

•

Is this person unable to move freely, or is she being watched or

followed?

•

Does she seem frightened to talk in the presence of others?

•

Does this person look to be of school age, but is she regularly seen

working during school hours?

•

Are there signs of assault—bruises, cuts, bandages, limping?

•

Does she seem disoriented, confused, malnourished, or frightened?

If it is possible to approach a likely slavery victim, then it is worth

asking if she feels free to leave the house of her “employer” or if she has

had her passport taken away or if she has ever been paid. Louis Etongwe

was shocked to find an enslaved domestic worker in his own extended

family after he had noticed her during a Thanksgiving dinner at a rela-

tive’s house. In time he helped this girl to freedom and she led him to

two other enslaved domestics. His advice for all Americans is simple:

“Know your neighbors, ask them questions!”

If you think you might know of an enslaved person, you can call the

Human Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline: 1–888–373–7888

(it is a free call). You could also call your local, county, or state police.

But do
something
—someone’s life may be at stake. Calling in the

professionals—trained victim service providers—is always the right thing

to do; don’t try to intervene if you think the situation would endanger

you or the person you think might need help. Just having read this chap-

ter gives you an awareness you probably didn’t have before; and even a

little bit of knowledge can go a long way to freeing a slave.

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Local, state, and federal government have a number of things to fix,

none of which is difficult or expensive. For starters, local and state

police need training about slavery and human trafficking. The good

news is that this training, in the form of educators, films, manuals,

workbooks, handbooks, pamphlets, and posters, already exists; it just

needs to be delivered to the right people. It is actually pretty easy to ask

others in your community the following questions, perhaps in a letter to

the local newspaper: How can we ensure that everyone who is most

likely to come into contact with a person in slavery—police, firefighters,

health inspectors, nurses, doctors—learns to spot the warning signs?

How can we help neighborhood groups to learn these warning signs as

well? At the end of this book is a resource list of groups, Web sites, and

sources for information on slavery and human trafficking.

Christina was one of the enslaved domestics found and helped by the

Good Samaritan Louis Etongwe. She was a slave for five long years. In

her words we hear the truth of household slaves in America—both the

tragedy and the hope for the future:

I consider myself a slave because I worked for so many hours without

getting paid, and without going to school. And I couldn’t leave. I feel like

they stole my life from me. We didn’t know anything like this happened.

It’s like we were brainwashed so we didn’t know the laws, we didn’t know

the rules. All we knew was what they were telling us. And we believed all

that they were saying. We were blind then. Anybody in my situation

shouldn’t take that long to get help. There’s help out there. They shouldn’t