You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Brazilians funneled as slave laborers
2017-07-25
The Word of Faith Fellowship used its two church branches in Brazil to siphon a steady flow of young laborers who came on tourist and student visas to its 35-acre compound in rural Spindale, North Carolina. The Brazilians often spoke little English when they arrived and many had their passports seized. "We're made to get up early, make the kids' breakfast, cook, do their beds, pick up their laundry," said Rebeca Melo, a former Word of Faith Fellowship member. AP

When Andre Oliveira answered the call to leave his Word of Faith Fellowship congregation in Brazil to move to the mother church in North Carolina at the age of 18, his passport and money were confiscated by church leaders ‐ for safekeeping, he said he was told.

Trapped in a foreign land, he said he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, first cleaning warehouses for the evangelical church and later working at businesses owned by the sect's senior ministers. Any violation of the rules risked the wrath of church leaders, he said, ranging from beatings to shaming from the pulpit.

An Associated Press investigation has found that Word of Faith Fellowship used its two church branches in Brazil to siphon a steady flow of young laborers who came on tourist and student visas to its 35-acre compound in rural Spindale. The Brazilians often spoke little English when they arrived and many had their passports seized.

"They kept us as slaves," Oliveira told the AP. "How can you do that to people ‐ claim you love them and then beat them in the name of God?"

Under U.S. law, visitors on tourist visas are prohibited from performing work for which people normally would be compensated. Those on student visas are allowed some work, under circumstances that were not met at Word of Faith Fellowship, the AP found.

In 2014, three former congregants told an assistant U.S. attorney that the Brazilians were being forced to work without pay, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by the AP.

Jill Rose, now the U.S. attorney in Charlotte, promised she would "take a fresh look at it," according to the recording. But the former members said she never responded when they repeatedly tried to contact her in the months after the meeting.

Rose declined to comment to the AP, citing an ongoing investigation.
More at link
Charlotte's U.S. Attorney Jill Rose was not among the 46 prosecutors fired Friday by the Trump administration
Why is she not fired? She is obviously a deep state operative since as a Democrat, she showed she's in favor of slavery.
Posted by:Seeking cure for ignorance

#2  Democrat wet dream. This gives you a good idea of what life will be like under the democrats.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance   2017-07-25 15:40  

#1  Christians unexpectedly duped and used as slaves is smiled upon by the left.
Posted by: Butch Sheath9092   2017-07-25 02:09  

00:00