Yours Truly Detained, Jailed, and Deported...
...all from our ally the UK
As crazy as that sounds, it is all true. I left Wednesday from LA to go to London to participate in my practicum with Fuller Theological Seminary for the next two months. As I entered immigration in London, it went downhill quickly from there. I will try to fully capture what took place over the next 40 hours until I returned to LA.
I was told the UK was getting extremely difficult to enter, even for people who are coming for vacation, so I stated that I was coming as a student taking a semester off and was vacationing. I had proof of money in my bank account as well as additional money from my financial aid from Fuller. I provided these documents to the immigration officer. He asked if I had a place to stay and a contact number. I provided the address and name of the man I was staying with who went to the church one of the families attended. I also provided the number and name of the team leader with the organization I was going to join. In the documents I had this information on, there was also information on how difficult the border was becoming to cross for those not from the European Union. It was not to mislead the immigration people or to provide false information, but in reality to clarity the situation to prevent problems. Well... in actuality having these instructions with me really caused the immigration people to freak out.
After glancing over these instructions, the officer told me to take a seat and wait for him as he talks with his supervisor. After waiting about 15 minutes, another immigration person came to me and told me he was going to take me to get my checked luggage. We went to get it and he searched through all of my bag as well as my carry-on luggage. He then took me back to the previous waiting area. I was there until another officer came and told me he needed to take me to another area to wait until this was all sorted out. He then took me to a locked area where anyone suspected of illegally immigrating was held. In this room, there were some chairs, coffee, a tv, and some food we could eat. My belongings were taken from me and I was allowed to have a coat and my Bible. I was taken to another room to be photographed and fingerprinted. After this I was told that another immigration officer was looking over my papers and would come interview me later.
After about three hours, the aforementioned officer came to "interview" me, which was much more like an interrogation. She started off the interview with stating that she was going to ask me a series of questions and if I lied, she would know it and I would be deported. Se then asked me all sorts of questions about what I was coming for, who I was meeting in London, how I know them, how I was paying for it, how was this part of my school, etc, etc, etc... for over two hours. I gave her the information of the people living in London I was going to meet, including the team leader, Darren. I told her to call Darren, because he would back up my information I gave her. She finally left after stating that she was going to call Darren and talk with her supervisor about my case.
I waited another hour or more until she returned. I had previously told her that I had a few documents on my computer verifying that my school knew what I was doing as well as a contract between Darren any myself on my responsibilities while in London. She returned to ask me to show her this. I was taken to get my computer from the area they were holding my luggage. I showed her the documents I had described. She stated that she had spoken to Darren who had stated that he did not really know me (we haven't met, but have spoken and e-mailed each other multiple times), he had not signed a contract, I had not applied to work with the organization, I was only a tourist, and he had no knowledge of my coming to work with the organization. I was floored by this assuming that what she had said was the truth. Only later after I returned to LA did I hear the truth. Darren had spoken with her for about a half hour where he repeatedly backed up what I had said, but she kept asking Darren question after question trying to get him to state something to implicate me. He had not stated the things she told me, but for some reason chose to lie to me. I'm baffled by this and have no answer why this woman was so coercive and, dare I say, evil toward me.
I stated that I was not sure why Darren would say these things, thinking that there must be some reason that Darren was "throwing me under the bus." I begged her to please speak with her supervisor and state that I was here with completely pure intentions and really just wanted to help the people. She left and I waited another two hours or so. In my time waiting, I was able to talk with the other guys being detained there. Most of them were trying to sneak into the UK to work. There was one guy that was from Iran and had flown in from Turkey with a stolen passport that he had ditched on the plane. I perceived that he was trying to seek asylum from something he was fleeing in Iran. It was really kind of interesting to hear their stories, but really really ridiculous that I was treated in the same way as they were.
Finally at about 7 pm, the immigration officer came once again to speak with me. She stated that they were denying me entrance into the UK for not having proper documentation from Fuller, having the e-mail from Darren that was suspicious, and for Darren and my stories not coinciding. She stated that I had a return flight on the same airline the following afternoon and would be moved to another facility for the night. At that point I kind of flipped my lid a little and started yelling at her. I know that was not really cool, but felt necessary at the time.
At about 11 pm I was taken with my belongings outside the airport in an armored, gated-off vehicle for transporting "prisoners." I was not handcuffed, but was treated in a manner similarly to a criminal. We drove about 15 minutes away and arrived at the "jail." I was taken into a small room and was searched (in all I was searched over 10 times in the next 12 hours...weird). My belongings were categorized and put in a holding area. I begged them to allow me to have my Bible in the cell with me and after a careful search for a shiv or something like that, they allowed me to have it. I was then taken to another area where I could get something to drink and spoke with a medical person. He interviewed me on my physical and mental condition and then told me it was ridiculous how I was being treated for doing nothing wrong.
I was finally taken to an actual locked jail cell where there was a bunk-bed with, thankfully, no one waiting for me, a toilet and shower. I was led to this room where they left me and locked the door. I was able to fitfully sleep through the night. Each hour the guards would noisily open the door and check to see if I was still alive or something. In the morning one guard brought in some food including an apple, orange juice, milk and cereal. In the late morning, they let us out of our cells to make a phone call and get some fresh air in the "jail yard," which was in the middle of the building and consisted of a paved area about 25 feet by 25 feet. There were another 15-20 men in the yard. We mostly just stood there and talked or some smoke. We were out there for about a half hour and then were told to return to our room.
Around noon, I was told I was to be taken back to Heathrow. After a really long process and multiple more searchings, I was finally loaded up into the prisoner van with two other men. We were taken out of the jail with multiple security checks (seriously, it was so surreal that this happened. We would go though one gate to come to another where a security person would check if it was really us and then out that gate. This happened three times!). We made it to another detention area in the airport where we waited until it came time for our flights.
About an hour and half before my flight was to leave, I was transported with two security people to the correct terminal. I was then walked by these security people to the metal detectors to the front of the line. Everyone waiting was looking at me and no doubt thinking that I was some sort of a criminal. After getting cleared through airport security, they walked me to the correct gate and took me up to the desk. There I received my boarding pass and my checked bag was left for them. I was then walked up the ramp and onto the plane where the security left me, but handed my passport to the flight attendants. I had a fairly uneventful flight back to LA where I told my story to multiple people. We landed and I was handed my passport as I left the plane.
Looking back, I don't think the intention of the immigration officer who interviewed me was to ever let me into the country. With her actions toward both myself and Darren, it shows that she is extremely coercive and lies through her teeth. She challenged both my beliefs and Darren's beliefs by stating that we had both lied repeatedly and "someone who was truly a Christian wouldn't do that" in her words. It is obvious that the Enemy works through people to fight against the Lord's advance on those places the Enemy has as a stronghold. Now I am left to wonder what it next for me. I was planning on being in London for two months. If you are a praying person, please pray that I would feel direction on what to do. Also pray for my attitude. I feel very taken advantage of, coerced, deceived, and overall treated like a criminal. I have never been called a liar so many times and was most definitely verbally assaulted by the immigration officer in her interrogation.
I guess this will be funny someday and will be a good story to tell, but it's not there yet. The UK was one of the places on the top of my list to visit, but who knows if I'm "backlisted" and won't plan on going there anytime soon. So so so so so so so ridiculous!
