A Congolese refugee says she was forced into domestic servitude by another Congolese refugee and has filed a federal lawsuit.
The story is here at Kentucky.com (Hat tip: Robin):
A Congolese refugee living in Lexington contacted a national human-trafficking hotline last April, saying she was being held in servitude, according to a federal lawsuit.
Claudine Nzigire Chigangu alleges in a lawsuit, filed Feb. 24 in U.S. District Court, that she was forced into domestic servitude by another refugee living in Lexington named Sifa Ndusha. The lawsuit says Ndusha took control of her money and immigration documents.
So if you are thinking this alleged trafficking began here in the US, you are wrong. This pair had been living together in Uganda for years before being chosen by the UN as refugees destined for Kentucky!
Read this! They don’t sound like “refugees” to me! Did none of this come to light in the supposed screening process?
According to the lawsuit, in the summer of 2007, while both were living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ndusha asked Chigangu if she would like to visit Uganda with her to take English classes. They ended up staying in Uganda for nearly four years, and Chigangu said she didn’t get to attend English classes. She said she was forced to stay home and take care of Ndusha’s house and children. Chigangu said she was not allowed to return to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the lawsuit, Chigangu said Ndusha created a false name and birth date for Chigangu when they came to the United States as refugees in 2011.
The lawsuit says Chigangu and Ndusha came to the United States in 2011, and Chigangu worked as a domestic servant for Ndusha, typically spending 18 hours a day cooking, cleaning and caring for Ndusha’s children.
Chigangu was able to escape on April 29, 2013, after calling the national human-trafficking hotline telephone number, the lawsuit says.
Kentucky resettlement contractor: Don’t blame us!
Meanwhile, Barbara Kleine, Lexington office director of the Kentucky Refugee Ministries*** program, said she was aware of the lawsuit but could not comment on specific clients.
Generally speaking, Kleine said, refugees go through a screening process before they arrive in the United States. That process has more than 30 steps, including multiple interviews by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, she said.
Read the whole sorry tale!
There is more!
Now what do you know! The Ndusa “family,” which already has eight members living in the US, has located their long lost ‘Dad.’ Isn’t that sweet. He will surely be reunited with his daughters in Lexington and soon after begin drawing Social Security!
From Kentucky.com a year ago:
The masked militia took Daddy away:
Sifa Ndusha was living with her family in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998 when masked militia entered her home, killing her mother and taking her father.
[….]
Ndusha said she went to neighboring Uganda in 2007, and in 2011, she traveled to the United States as a refugee. In all, eight members of her family, including children and siblings, now live in Lexington.
And, Daddy will make nine!
Wait for it! The next thing we will hear is that the “masked militia” has released her (also kidnapped) hubby so that he might come to America as well.
Wyoming are you paying attention?
***Kentucky Refugee Ministries is a subcontractor of New York-based Church World Service.