TheOriginalBigBlue
Gold Meritorious Patron
Where this operation seems to differ from Scientology’s methods, it is unclear whether people were brought into the country only with student or tourist visas or if they also used religious visas which seem to be Scientology's visa of choice for bringing in foreign workers. They don’t appear to have been as sophisticated in the use of contracts, waivers and NDAs. People are used for non-church specific work. It seems Scientology has made an exception for this with TC but in general I think they try to keep it church specific.
The main takeaway looks to be that the basic program is catching on.
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http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article162899558.html
Brazilians funneled as "slaves" by US church, ex-members say
By MITCH WEISS, HOLBROOK MOHR and PETER PRENGAMAN Associated Press
SPINDALE, N.C.
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.
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Ana Albuquerque, 25, during an interview in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Albuquerque traveled to the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindale, N.C., from Brazil 11 times over the course of more than a decade, starting at age 5 with her parents. Over time, she said she witnessed so much screaming and shoving to "expunge devils" that she began to see the behavior as normal. Silvia Izquierdo
The main takeaway looks to be that the basic program is catching on.
_____
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article162899558.html
Brazilians funneled as "slaves" by US church, ex-members say
By MITCH WEISS, HOLBROOK MOHR and PETER PRENGAMAN Associated Press
SPINDALE, N.C.
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.
///
Ana Albuquerque, 25, during an interview in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Albuquerque traveled to the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindale, N.C., from Brazil 11 times over the course of more than a decade, starting at age 5 with her parents. Over time, she said she witnessed so much screaming and shoving to "expunge devils" that she began to see the behavior as normal. Silvia Izquierdo