outrage that will lood boil (part 2)
They’ve put their life savings into a popular Highland B&B, are much-loved members of their community and play an active part in church life. So why, just days before Christmas, have this American couple been ordered to leave Scotland – by a system that l
The 41-year-old has now been granted legal aid to fight extradition, despite having been convicted of the murder of two men in his homeland.
The Felbers’ plight has attracted a groundswell of support, with strangers sending them Christmas cards. Social media has been ablaze with indignation at their shabby treatment.
Mr Felber is humbled by their concern, but not surprised: ‘People in Scotland have been just great to us ever since we arrived.’
Mr Zielsdorf understands the Felbers’ pain. His family received their marching orders in February – and were given four months to sell up and book flights back to Canada. They have won a stay of execution until the New Year, but time is running out.
He said: ‘These bureaucrats are not serving the people any more. There’s no allowance for them to be reflective or humane in their onesize-fits-all template. It’s like the Highland Clearances all over again, except on paper. At least the first time around they replaced the people with sheep.
‘I keep reading in the paper about killers and terrorists they have to let stay because they would be tortured if they were sent home. Why has the UK become the baby-sitter for the world’s ne’er-do-wells?
‘I have been able to vote in this country for eight years and been called for jury duty twice. Technically, members of my family can serve in the British armed forces, but we’re not good enough to be allowed to stay here. Or perhaps we are not bad enough to stay? Why are they doing it? I can only speculate that it is to make their net migration quotas – it is easier to get rid of us than others.’
The Felbers must hope their cause will benefit from high-profile backers, including Drew Hendry, Nationalist MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, and the Rt Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, who has vowed to fight for two ‘trusted and dedicated members of the cathedral congregation’.
He said: ‘I cannot understand why two people who have contributed to their community in the way Russell and Ellen have done should be asked to leave because of an everchanging immigration policy. They have fallen foul of a rule change that took place after they had sent in their final submission. That seems appalling.’
He argued the succession of Highland cases suggests Westminster’s ‘one size fits all’ immigration policy needed to be looked at. ‘I am not making a political statement on where Scotland should be, it’s just that I drive through many miles of hardly anybody. We need people, especially people who are conscientious, hard-working and who want to fit into the community.
‘The Felbers were not trying to keep under the radar or swindle the system; they have done everything they can to fulfil the letter of the law. We will keep fighting for them because it seems to me there is a clear injustice in this process.
‘In effect, I am their parish priest and, if necessary, I will go to court with them. These people need help. They need to feel the compassion of the community around them and we will continue to keep the pressure on.’
Mr Hendry, who took up the cudgels for the Zielsdorfs and the Brains, said: ‘This is yet another case where a couple, working hard, being successful and adding to our community and local economy are being forced out of Scotland by a ruthlessly dogmatic Home Office with utter disregard.’
Tomorrow is Christmas Day, when Christians remember the birth of Jesus in a stable after no room could be found at the inn. The irony that the Felbers, modern-day innkeepers, may soon find themselves without a roof over their head will not be lost upon them.
Whether they see another Christmas at their Highland B&B may now lie with a notoriously cheerless Home Office appeals process.
Their faith is about to be sorely tested.