Thread: I.C.E. Raids Christian School In Southeast Georgia

Thursday, March 26, 2015 - 6:14pm
Federal Immigration Officials Raid Christian School In Southeast Georgia

Sarah McCammon

Updated: 1 hour ago.



Faith Baptist Christian Academy's logo. The school's motto is "Home of the Crusaders." Credit: Faith Baptist Christian Academy Facebook page

Savannah, Ga. — Federal immigration officials confirm media reports of a raid at a Christian school in Long County, Ga., on Wednesday night.

Vincent Picard is a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

"ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents executed a search warrant at Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici, but due to the ongoing nature of the investigation I’m not really able to provide further details at this time," Picard tells GPB.

Picard says no arrests were made as of late afternoon Thursday. He says the agency is leading the investigation with assistance from local law enforcement, state officials, and the American Red Cross.

TV station WSAV reports that foreign students were living in the school gymnasium at Faith Baptist Christian Academy in apparently unsafe and unsanitary conditions. The station says the Georgia raid comes after an investigation into basketball recruiting violations involving foreign students at Lake Wales High School in Florida.

Susan Boatwright, communications director for the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, says the agency has placed eight children younger than 18 in foster care and is working to find housing for more than 20 others. She says some may be young adults. Boatwright says many of the students do not speak English, and the agency is working with interpreters.

http://www.gpb.org/news/2015/03/26/f...theast-georgia

Was this one of the Baptist orgs. federal babysitter contractors? Maybe overflow from a facility meeting standards, but the Baptist Org.s are paid by the head, if I'm not mistaken?

http://www.alipac.us/f12/documents-o...on-hou-315507/se Illegal Aliens

UPDATE: Feds Raid Long County Christian School

Posted: Mar 25, 2015 6:32 PM PDTUpdated: Mar 27, 2015 3:54 PM PDTBy Kate Sparrow, Executive Producer

Long County, Ga -UPDATE:

As of Friday - March 27, 2015 - the Pastor of Faith Baptist Christian Academy says all 22 of the older boys have been placed with host families through the church. Pastor Terry Sellars says the eight minors had a hearing on their cases Friday morning. He says four of those children remain in state custody - but that four were turned over to relatives. Of those, he says one has already returned to the school. Still no word from Homeland Security or the U.S. Attorney's Office about what their investigation is focusing on.

Dr. Terry Sellars is the long-time pastor of Faith Baptist Christian Academy. He would not speak on camera today pending permission by the school's Board of Trustees. He did speak with News 3 extensively off camera regarding the situation that led to the investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. He says the Academy in Ludowici is Not a sister school to the school in North Georgia connected to the basketball players at Lake Wales in Florida. However, he says the two schools did have a loose affiliation in the past and that the Ludowici school played a role in getting those students into the U.S. - handling some of the paperwork, but that those four students were never at the school in Ludowici and the deplorable conditions they have told of living in were at the North Georgia school - not in Ludowici. He says the Ludowici school cut ties with the North Georgia school entirely back in December because of issues with how their programs were being run.

Dr. Sellars says his school has helped students from other countries get U.S. educations and sports opportunities for several years now as part of the SEVIS program and that all the students at his school are there legally with I-20 student visas and their parent's permission.

He says he recognizes that there are some fire code violations and other issues that need to be fixed inside the gym where the students were living, but that his understanding is that the students will be allowed to return to live there once that is done. Twenty-two older students who stayed in a shelter at Calvary Baptist overnight were back in school at Faith Christian today. Eight younger ones placed in foster care were not - but DFACs Director Shawn Brown says that was mainly a problem of logistics.

The gym is currently closed until several fire code issues can be addressed. The school however, is open and operating today. Brown says the students all appeared to be healthy. Many were concerned what would happen to their opportunity for an education. Pastor Sellars says Homeland Security has not informed him of any charges he could face. Homeland Security spokesman Vincent Picard tells News 3 he can not comment because it is an ongoing investigation.
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Lake Wales- An investigation that began last month when suspicions rose over four foreign teenagers attempting to enroll at Lake Wales High School has led to a federal raid at a Georgia school.

Wednesday night Homeland Security agents conducted a federal search warrant at Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici, GA. Nearly 30 students were interviewed and at least seven were taken into foster care.

The raid follows the investigation into recruiting violations by Lake Wales High basketball coach Randy Lee. School attorney Robin Gibson told News Channel 8 once red flags were raised by four “very tall” foreign male students who showed up unexpectedly, the school started looking into a so-called foreign exchange student who played for the basketball team last season. It was revealed, Gibson stated, that the student actually lived with the coach, which is a violation of the Florida High School Athletic Association rules.

Gibson said that violation may result in some disciplinary action for the school by the Association and is what led to Gibson's forced resignation.

But it was the latest foreign students that sparked questions about how and why they showed up in the first place.

The students reported they came from Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Georgia where conditions were rough.

Wednesday night's raid at the Georgia school proved their statements, Shawn Smith, Assistant Chief of Operations at Long County Fire Department said.

“There are a lot of life-safety hazards and fire hazards in there, Smith said Thursday of the gymnasium in which the kids lived. “We found a lot of deplorable conditions. Their alarm system does not work; it's been turned off at the panel so it can't even send a signal.”

Smith went on to say there were no fire extinguishers in the rooms the students were living in. He reported exits were blocked as well.

“I wouldn't want to live there and live in that. But some kids tell us it's better than where they came from,” Smith added.

One room had 14 beds in it, Smith said, some of those being mattresses on the floor.

“There was a lot of mold on the showers, the smell of urine and feces was inside the bathrooms,” he said.

Smith said the school has been told to get the living quarters up to code before the gymnasium can open back up. So far no charges have been filed.

Bob Heffley, Long County EMA Director, stated that 30 students were put in new housing situations because of the raid.

The Homeland Security raid came as a surprise to Long County emergency officials and the students.

“First of all the students were frightened, scared they were in jeopardy of losing their education,” Heffley said.

Meanwhile, the four students who last month arrived at Lake Wales High are attending school there but will not be allowed to play basketball. A foster family has welcomed them into a comfortable living situation, the school's attorney said.

UPDATE:

According to Long County EMA Director, Bob Hefley 22 students were housed at the nearby Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici last night in a Red Cross shelter. 7 minors were placed in foster care through DFCS.

Hefley said the students were living above the gym which only had two toilets, no smoke detectors and an air and heating system which worked intermittently. The students were sleeping on blow up mattresses on the floor. The facility was not able to accommodate the number of students living there and the condition was a hazard to the students.

Long County Fire Marshall Shawn Smith has closed the living quarters due to safety violations.

He stated the facility had only one working smoke detector, no fire extinguishers, electrical outlets were overloaded. The children were packed into rooms too small to accommodate the students.

---

Federal authorities raided a Christian school in Long County Wednesday evening.

WSAV cameras caught Homeland Security agents conducting a federal search warrant at Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici.

According to Homeland Security spokesman, Vincent Picard, the academy is the target of a criminal investigation but Picard would not go into detail.

We're told there were numerous children from overseas being housed in a building on the property.

We saw dozens of students being interviewed by social workers from the Department of Family and Children Services.

The Director for Long and Liberty DFACS, Shawn Brown, tells us the living conditions are also being assessed and that they are looking at moving upwards of 30 children to Red Cross housing.

Faith Baptist Christian Academy Pastor Terry Sellars said the raid took him by surprise but that there have been accusations made against the academy.

Sellars said those accusations stemmed from another facility in Florida.

The Long County Sheriff's Office was also on scene providing logistical support.

According to an NBC News report, a Florida high school is under investigation and a coach has been forced to resign in a scandal over allegedly improper recruitment of foreign students who were housed in "deplorable" conditions to play basketball.

Randy Lee resigned earlier this month as boys basketball coach at Lake Wales High School, a public charter school in Polk County, FL, in a dispute with administrators over the enrollment of three basketball players from Cameroon and one from Serbia, the school said in an eight page report from the Florida High School Athletic Association.

The boys arrived at Lake Wales in early February over the objections of the school's principal and the district superintendent, who gave Lee the choice of resigning or being fired, according to the report.

NBC also says the boys arrived last month with proper paperwork indicating they were transferring from Faith Baptist Christian Academy North in Ludowici, Georgia.

Principal Donna Dunson wrote that Lee told her that the school "had closed and the boys did not have any place to go." She said the boys were living in "deplorable" conditions — which weren't described — with the 21-year-old girlfriend of an assistant basketball coach. They have since been placed with foster families and are being represented by an immigration attorney, the report says.

State records and the academy's website show that Faith Baptist Christian Academy North is in the Gainesville area of north Georgia, not Ludowici. Ludowici, almost 300 miles away in south Georgia, is home to a different school, Faith Baptist Christian Academy.

Georgia high school sports records show that both institutions were still in existence and played boys basketball tournament games on Feb. 27 — at least two weeks after the young men arrived at Lake Wales.

Stay with WSAV for updates.

http://www.wsav.com/story/28617368/f...ristian-school

Misled, misguided, foolish people helping the wrong people. Your organization is an American 501 C 3 tax exempt orgie to provide school services to Americans. American taxpayers DO NOT issue you a tax exempt status to import people who don't belong here so you can give them "US educations".

Stop this nonsense. Pass the FairTax and a 10 Year Moratorium on Immigration. Shut these foolish, stupid, ignoramuses down. The harm they cause, the money they cost US, all to divert US resources to helping foreigners who do not belong here and whom we can not afford to help with anything but are then stuck with is the most self-righteous, hypocritical, unChristian bunch of crap I've seen yet out of our "churches".

Our immigration farce has become disgusting.

We're now paying organizations that are supposed to be faith-based, to provide aid and comfort to illegals.

Not once in all of this have I heard 'Bamacrats even mention the plight of our own foster children. Typically these children term out of benefits at age 18. Their rates of incarceration and emotional problems are well above those of other American children. IMO we should be taking care of American children first.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Originally Posted by vistalad

Our immigration farce has become disgusting.

We're now paying organizations that are supposed to be faith-based, to provide aid and comfort to illegals.

Not once in all of this have I heard 'Bamacrats even mention the plight of our own foster children. Typically these children term out of benefits at age 18. Their rates of incarceration and emotional problems are well above those of other American children. IMO we should be taking care of American children first.
*******************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Exactly. That's why this income tax bull needs to be repealed and all these phony 501 C 3 income tax frauds laid to rest where they belong, in file 13, to be remembered only by an index that reads "US Sold Out By Charity". Over $1.3 Trillion of tax exempt revenue collected a year, at 30% average tax rate, that's $390 billion a year in lost tax revenue due to the tax exempt status, and over $900 billion a year lost in our real economy, because they don't spend or conduct business the same way real for-profit businesses do, so it skews everything in the wrong direction.

I have nothing against charity or organizations that actually give something to Americans who need help, but it's not charity when you get a big tax deduction reward for it, and it's not charity when you charge for services or bill the government the same as private businesses but walk away without paying tax when they have to. As it's developed like so many aspects of our income tax code, it makes no sense. And worse, the end result is taxpayers underwriting through the loss of tax revenue many of the very problems we're trying to stop.

Friday, March 27, 2015 - 5:45pm

Some Students Headed Home After Raid At Christian School In Southeast Georgia

Sarah McCammon
Updated: 1 day ago.




The gymnasium where 30 students, mostly from outside the United States, were living in what state foster care officials describe as unsafe and unsanitary conditions. The doors are roped off with yellow tape. Photo Credit: Sarah McCammon

Savannah, Ga. — Several foreign students taken from a Christian school in southeast Georgia remain in state custody after a juvenile court hearing Friday morning in Long County.

Meanwhile, federal immigration authorities say they are continuing an investigation following a raid at Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici, Ga., on Wednesday night.

Pastor Terry Sellars’ office at Faith Baptist Church is filled with Civil War memorabilia, a bouquet of tiny flags emblazoned with the Confederate Stars and Bars, and shelves lined with Christian books. There’s even an old-school wooden paddle on one of the bookshelves by his desk.

Sellars says the church-run school began its international student program about four years ago as an offshoot of its religious mission.

"These students would have an opportunity to get an education, participate in extracurricular activities, but it would also provide us an opportunity to share the gospel with them," Sellars says.

About 30 students – most of them older teenagers – were living in the school gymnasium’s second floor until this week’s raid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Sellars says they came from countries including the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and the British Virgin Islands, although he says some were U.S. citizens.

His son Matthew Sellars, the school’s athletic director, says international students come to Faith Baptist to get an education and, in some cases, hoping to earn an athletic scholarship for college. They pay tuition on a sliding scale based on family income, he says, often around $250 a month.

Georgia foster care authorities seized eight children who were under 18 after the fire marshal and local code inspectors found safety violations, cramped living conditions, and dirty restrooms.

Sellars says the school is working to fix all of that.

"No one has been mistreated," he says. "We just genuinely love them, they love us, and I think they all are excited to get right back to things as they used to be."

Sellars declined to make students available for interviews, citing school policy. He says 22 students who are 18 or older are living with host families and are back in school.

A Long County Juvenile Court Judge Linnie L. Darden III has given permission for four of the minors to be released to relatives or returned home, while the state works to make contact with the families of the rest.

Shawn Brown is the Liberty/Long County Director for the state Department of Family and Children Services.

"I want to remind everybody that these are kids," Brown says.

"The same standards that a resident of the US that lives in Long County has are the same standards and expectations that are in place for these children."

ICE Special Agent Scott McCormack said in Long County Court that the raid was prompted by the discovery of several foreign students living in Florida who were supposed to be attending another Christian school in Georgia with apparent ties to Faith Baptist in Long County.

ICE spokesman Vincent Picard says the second school, Faith Baptist Christian Academy North in Stockbridge, appears to have shut down. He says immigration authorities are following up on leads and talking with people connected to both schools.

http://www.gpb.org/news/2015/03/27/s...theast-georgia