- from "Teens from Okeechobee church deported from England after running afoul of anti-terror law," by Carolyn Scofield, NBC-WPTV Channel 5 News, West Palm Beach, Florida
Kylie Shirley took one picture in England.
The 14-year old and a friend posed in front of a window. Behind them is the British Airways flight that carried them to Gatwick Airport in London. A few minutes later, guards confiscated her camera and cell phone.
Kylie and thirteen other members of the First United Methodist Church of Okeechobee were sent into a nearby room. There immigration officials questioned, photographed and fingerprinted them before putting them on planes headed back to the United States.
"The guy from immigration came in and told us that we were going to be sent home and everybody started crying," says the 8th grader, who says England is her favorite country outside of the United States.
The church group was on a mission trip. They planned to help remodel the Islington Central Methodist Church and sightsee after that.
"When they were questioned about entry, we all gave the same answer," says Pastor Jim Dawson. "The answer was, we were here to do missionary work in a church."
The word "work" caught the attention of immigration officials.
Under the United Kingdom's tier system that's designed to deter illegal workers and potential terrorists, anyone doing any kind of charity or religious work must have a visa and Certificate of Sponsorship along with a passport.
The church group only had passports.
Dawson says they arranged the trip last year, before the rules went into effect. They booked everything through a travel agency in Tennessee. The agency says it's the traveler's responsibility to know the rules.
So there they were, trapped in a room at Gatwick Airport, only allowed one phone call to the American Embassy. William Shirley, Kylie's father, says within 20 minutes of going into the room, one immigration official told him they were already booked on a flight back to the U.S.
Their trip ended about 30 hours after it began; the only sight Kylie saw was the Empire State Building. She could see it out the windows at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
The group spent a year and a half raising money for the trip. Now they don't know if they'll ever get the $18,000 back.(more)
Noteworthy responses:
"I'm often ashamed and disgusted by my government for their perverse and traitorous actions, but this really takes the cake; we have terrorists wandering around freely in the UK and they're here because our government supports open-border foreignization...yet our immigration service bans a bunch of US school kids. My heartfelt apologies go out to these kids, don't judge the English people by the acts of our degraded government and it's institutions."
"The UK doesn't want decent people coming in. The overlords only want the f*cking terrorist Islamists coming in to finish the job of completely destroying the UK from within...to make UK-natives into second class (or dead) citizens...all in the name of multicultural utopian tyranny and eventual creation of a borderless one-world government, beginning with the EU. They kicked these kids out out with such ruthless efficiency and make it look like they are tough and sticking to the letter of the law. The truth is, you and your Christian friends are nice, meek people, who can be pushed around safely by UK official cowards, because they know you won't show up the next morning with a suicide belt and the media doesn't care about Christians who are abused and oppressed. Save yourself the grief and don't go where you are not wanted.Go visit a nice country like Italy or Czechoslovakia instead."
"Kylie, don't waste your time coming to the UK, just turn on Al Jazeera TV and you can watch Londonistan as it settles comfortably into dhimmitude."
