From Pioneer
Press
By Lisa Donovan
March 10, 2004—Ejine
Francisca Uzonwanne came to the United States for a better
life, but contends in a lawsuit that she was immediately
enslaved by a distant relative.
The Nigerian woman says she never
saw a dime during the four years — some of that time in Minnesota — she
cooked, walked the dog, cleaned the home and family Jaguar,
and even hand-washed clothes for her keeper, Dr. Julie Berny
George.
She also alleges George repeatedly threatened to turn her
over to immigration officials and at one point says she was
locked in a basement closet overnight.
This is according to the Nigerian woman's friends, lawyer
and a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.
Attempts to reach George, a physician who worked at the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester from November 2001 to April 2003 and, according
to court papers, later relocated to California, were unsuccessful.
But she is listed as the defendant
in the civil lawsuit in which Uzonwanne claims her civil
rights were violated. Uzonwanne claims that George, whom
she referred to as "Auntie," violated
the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished
slavery in this country.
Experts say this is an example of a modern-day slavery case
that the American government and other governments keep a close
eye on but have trouble stopping.
"The State Department estimates that some 18,000 to 20,000
people from foreign lands are brought to U.S. shores and enslaved
in the way this woman was, but most Americans don't know about
it," said Tommy Calvert, spokesman for the Boston-based
American Anti-Slavery Group.
When promises of housing, clothing and an education don't
pan out, those visitors become trapped and face staying in
a bad situation here or going back to their impoverished or
war-torn country, Calvert said.
Uzonwanne left what she described as a bad situation and is
with a Rochester family. She is attending classes to earn her
general equivalency high school diploma. But she is now at
risk of returning to Nigeria, according to attorneys working
on her immigration case. She is seeking political asylum here,
said Virgil Wiebe, an assistant law professor and director
of the legal services clinic at the University of St. Thomas
School of Law. He is overseeing Uzonwanne's immigration case.
Her asylum petition is based in part on the threats she said
she suffered at the hands of George, who attorneys believe
is a cousin to Uzonwanne's father.
"Among the threats that Dr. George made against Ms. Uzonwanne
was that she knew people in Nigeria who could harm Ms. Uzonwanne
when she got back there. That in a nutshell is the basis for
the asylum claim," Wiebe said.
He contacted Minneapolis attorney Brian Cote, who is handling
the federal lawsuit, which lists nine claims, ranging from
assault and battery to false imprisonment. Uzonwanne is asking
for more than $75,000 in damages.
Although Uzonwanne refused to comment,
the lawsuit paints a picture of the woman known as "Franca" and
her move from Nigeria to the United States.
In the late 1990s, George "arranged with her sisters
Agnus and Ifeoma Akabogu Chinwuba to transport Ms. Uzonwanne
to the United States for the purpose of subjecting Ms. Uzonwanne
to domestic servitude," the lawsuit contends.
In 1999, Uzonwanne arrived in Houston, where George greeted
her at the airport and seized her passport.
Over the next four years, Uzonwanne followed George, her husband
and mother from Houston to Baytown, Texas, and to Rochester,
where they settled in 2001.
Uzonwanne worked six to seven days a week for the family and
was subjected to verbal and physical abuse, according to court
records that state:
"Defendant called Ms. Uzonwanne "evil" and
a "bastard" and told her that she could kill her
and throw her away and no one would know she was gone."
When Uzonwanne would complain, she said she would usually
be threatened with deportation.
Although George was a physician, Uzonwanne said her headaches,
weight loss, stomach problems and boils around her mouth went
untreated. And when George would leave town for extended periods,
Uzonwanne said she was left with little food or money to buy
food.
According to the state's medical practice board, Julie Berny
Akabogu George is a physician licensed to practice in Minnesota
since 2002. She has renewed that license, as required, every
year since, a board spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Uzonwanne said she was promised aid in getting her immigration
papers, but when she pushed the subject George would again
threaten her.
Uzonwanne says in the lawsuit that contact with those beyond
George's family was limited, but she found camaraderie in some
of the parishioners at a local Catholic church.
In spring 2003, she sought refuge with Joe and Elaine Mayer,
members of the parish where Uzonwanne had attended church from
time to time.
"A year ago in April, she called at 5:30 in the morning,
said, 'I'm on my way over, and I've got all my stuff packed.'
And except for a while, she's been with us ever since," Joe
Mayer said.
That "awhile" was when
she was jailed on an immigration violation. Mayer said Uzonwanne
is working to speak better English but understanding her
is often a struggle.
For now, he and his wife — with help from St. John's
Catholic Church — plan to house, feed and clothe her.
"All she wants is to get through
this … so she
can get a visa to work, earn her own money and get out on her
own," Mayer said.
