When Socialists like Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown run countries, Christians are in for trouble. In Britain, the crackdown on those who love the Lord gets ever fiercer. In two separate
incidents, American gospel singer Don Francisco and a team of 11
young American Christian missionaries were all deported from the UK.
It
seems that they had fallen foul of new immigration legislation which has
specific sections aimed at religious workers. The shape of things to come....ALAN FRANKLIN.
I have
just discovered the shocking news detailed below. Last month
anti Islamic Dutch politician Geert
Wilders was banned from entering the UK
http://www.ccfon.org/view...php?id=687<http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=687>
...
Now a well known American gospel singer and a team of 11
young American Christian missionaries were all deported from the UK.
New immigration legislation which has
specific sections aimed at religious workers became law in December but few
people know about it.
Under this system the applicant has to be
sponsored by a licensed sponsorship agency and then apply for a visa.
The ‘agency’, which in this case is likely to be a ministry or church, would have to pay to be registered with the Government and would then pay a fee for
each applicant it sponsors. The applicant would then also need to pay
for his visa.
This rule will apply whether you are applying to come in
for a year or more, or whether it is just for a few days’
ministry.
Note: This gives those running Britain total control over who comes in to preach. They do not favor Christians!
One well-known ministry had to employ a
lawyer to help fill in the highly complicated application for their team of
foreign volunteers (I believe it is about 50 pages) which can only be done
online and which only permits one mistake before voiding the application and
necessitating a second fee payment.
(This meant that the fee of several
hundred pounds became several thousand pounds to cover the lawyer.) While
clearly this is meant to be a revenue raiser and will rule out anyone without
funds, its complicated nature would also appear to be designed as a
deterrent.
It will have the further effect of giving the powers that be
very full details of any ministry which applies.
I gather that
‘authorized officers’ will then be able to visit and do spot
checks.
Don
Francisco, who was only planning to be in Britain
for a few days and who had a
return ticket, was not allowed into the country.
If that was true for
him, what about the Christian
leaders and speakers and worship leaders who regularly come in and out to
speak at conferences, meetings etc?
The more high profile, the more
difficult it would be for them to merely say they are here ‘on
holiday’.
INCIDENT
ONE:
Gospel Singer – Don Francisco.
Deported from
Heathrow
Don Francisco Refused Entry Into The
UK.
www.rockymountainministries.org <http://www.rockymountainministries.org/>
On March
1st 2009, Don flew to the UK to visit friends and join rehearsals for the
production "Why Good Friday?" based on his music and written by Brian Harries.
He was detained at Heathrow and then flown back to the states on the grounds
that he didn't have the right paperwork. Don has been ministering in the UK
for over 30 years. For info about the production, please visit www.donfrancisco.co.uk <http://www.donfrancisco.co.uk> .
Don’s
story below in his own words which I received today in an
email:
"I
arrived at immigration with a new passport since mine had expired the previous
month. I had filled in my occupation as "Gospel singer", the same phrase I had
used for the last 30 years.
When it became obvious that the officer did
not want to let me in, I told him that I had come to England dozens of times
and had never had any problems with entry before.
He then asked me if I
had my old passport with me to
prove this.
I didn't.
thought the last thing I would need was an old expired passport.
He had
me wait while he went to talk to his supervisor and then asked me to follow
him down to baggage claim.
We collected my luggage and he thoroughly
inspected everything I had.
I then loaded everything on a cart and
followed him back upstairs to a place behind a security door.
He then did a lot of work on a
computer which I couldn't see, took a
digital picture of me, and then tried to get the fingerprinting machine to
work.
He failed.
After that he led me to about a 20x20 foot room
with an observation room next to it with several guards in it.
I was
then offered food and coffee.
One of the sandwiches was so rancid I
had to throw it away.
While there I made an acquaintance with a
man from Barbados who had been charged with felony.
I was lucky
enough to have some change to help him call for help on a payphone which was
in the room.
After an hour I was led back to the fingerprinting room
where several employees tried to get the machine to work again, but they all
failed.
I was then fingerprinted manually - where a man grabs your
fingers and presses them into ink and onto a piece of paper one by one.
I was instructed carefully about how to wash my hands.
Then I was led to
another office where a young lady who was obviously uncomfortable with the
task assigned to her, told me I had been refused entry and was going to be put on a plane back to the United States.
She led me back to the lockup
where I reclaimed my luggage.
I was then led by two armed Guards, one in
front and one behind, through various hallways, elevators and escalators, to a
van on the tarmac.
There was a cage in van and I was instructed to get
in.
The guards were very nice and one of them expressed embarrassment at
my having to ride back there.
They drove me to the British Airways
plane, escorted me onboard where they handed the stewardess an envelope
containing my passport, boarding passes, and other paperwork.
They told
her not to give the envelope to me until the plane was in the air and that I
was not to be allowed to leave before then. I arrived back in Denver at
midnight, 40 hours after I had left home.
I have travelled all over
England and the UK for over 30 years.
My wife and I love the UK very
much.
We have many, many dear friends there.
It is
deeply saddening to us and to the thousands who receive our
newsletter that this has happened. Our office has been flooded with
letters of shock and apology. - Don Francisco
INCIDENT
Two:
11 young Christian volunteers from Arkansas:
deported from
Edinburgh
From The Sunday
Times
March
8, 2009
US
volunteers sent home by ‘Godless Scots’
Edinburgh
airport officials have sent a team of American church volunteers home for not
meeting new Home Office visa rules
Simon
Houston
A team of American church
volunteers deported from Scotland by immigration officials who told them they
needed work visas to give food to the homeless have branded the decision as
“Godless”.
The volunteers from Arkansas,
who had each raised almost £1,500 to fund the trip, had planned to spend 10
days working in homeless hostels in Edinburgh.
But they were detained after
arriving at Edinburgh Airport last Sunday and sent home on the first available
flight.
Although the 11 volunteers, who
were all in their early twenties, would not have been paid, under new Home
Office rules charity workers must be sponsored by a UK organisation in order
to obtain a temporary work visa.
While the Scottish church group
that arranged the trip had paid £400 for the necessary sponsorship
certificate, it had not been processed in time.
Craig Johnson, 28, an associate
youth pastor with the Harvest Time Church in Arkansas and the leader of the
team, said he was astonished by the decision. “It was the last thing we
expected when we touched down on Scottish soil. We were coming over to do
God’s work and were treated in a less than Godly way,” he
said.
“It just floored me that I can
stay for six months without a visa but if I want to volunteer to work in a
soup kitchen for a couple of nights to help a church, I need to have a visa.
That was what blew me away. I mean, we were hardly a threat to national
security.”
Johnson said his church had been
involved in several missions to other European countries but had never
encountered similar problems with immigration officials. He said: “We take a
team to Europe every year but I think it will be a while before we consider
Scotland again.”
Johnson added that the
volunteers had raised more than £16,000 to fund the trip and that much of the
money had been donated by friends and families. “I now have to explain to my
superiors what happened and try to work out what to say to the parents of the
individuals who came with us and the people who supported them,” he
said.
Reverend Andrew Smith,
superintendent of the Assemblies of God Churches in Scotland, who had
organised the trip, said he had paid £400 to sponsor the visit under UK Border
Agency rules but that the paperwork had not been processed in
time.
“I went to the airport and tried
to explain that we had already applied to be a sponsor and had paid the
necessary £400. I also have paperwork showing that the UK Border Agency had
received the application by February 10,” he said.
“I really hope this doesn’t have
a lasting impression of Scotland on these young people who were coming here to
do unpaid work for a very good cause. The whole episode has been rather
embarrassing.”
Last week Michael Connarty, the
local Labour MP, described the decision to deport the volunteers as
“outrageous”, adding that he would raise the matter with the Home
Office.
A UK Border Agency spokesman
said: “Tier 5 of our new system allows temporary workers to travel to the UK
for non-economic reasons. Individuals who fall under this category are
required to ensure they have the relevant documentation.
“All migrants, not just charity
workers, coming to the UK to work or study require a certificate of
sponsorship.”
If you
know of other incidents such as these I would be grateful if you would let me
know.
I also urge you to take this up with your MP or anyone you may
know in Parliament.
I believe this is urgent and significant and has
somehow got through Parliament while we were sleeping.
I believe we
should be asking why religious workers are singled out for special
treatment?
Would a secular singer have had a similar problem? Eg Michael
Jackson singing at 02 last week?
I recognize that this in principle
affects all religions, however it seems to me that it is much more likely to
affect Christians than others who may be prepared to be less honest about
their activities.
If you
are a ministry or church who invites speakers and guests from abroad I believe
you will need to look into this urgently and in detail and warn anyone already
booked to be aware of this.
As ministries we will have to be prepared to
become sponsors and to consider which of the tiers our contacts may fall
into. We will also have to plan our conferences etc longer in advance to
ensure that our speakers actually do get visas.
The cases above were
Tier 5 – but each tier requires separate registration.
A Minister of
Religion falls under Tier 2 as ‘a skilled worker’.
The Immigration
website is complicated and does not seem to work properly http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/tier5/religiousworkers
I was keen to get this
out as soon as possible so have copied some relevant material into the
attachment in case you have as much problem as I did getting the website to
work.