The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is preparing a deportation case against the American pastor accused of physically abusing at least 160 children in Pampanga.
Based on the agency’s press release on Saturday, August 16, Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said that they are initiating proceedings against the American national, who was later identified as 48-year-old Jeremy Ferguson.
The said proceedings are part of the BI’s #ShieldKids campaign, which is focused on the protection of children from the exploitation and abuse of foreign nationals.
Ferguson was arrested on August 13 by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Field Office III and the Pampanga Police Provincial Office’s Women and Children’s Desk.
According to reports, the American national led a religious organization in Mexico, Pampanga, which had minors in its custody.
The agency’s Intelligence Division said it received official communication from the PNP and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) requesting assistance and informing the agency of the case.
Upon investigation, the PNP and DSWD found that the victims were physically assaulted and sustained injuries from the American pastor. Moreover, there were also accounts of the latter depriving children of food, chaining them, and locking them inside rooms.
“This kind of depravity has no place in our country,” Viado stressed. “We will make sure this individual is expelled from the Philippines after facing his cases here, so he may never prey on our children again. Foreign nationals who think they can come here and harm our people will face the full force of the law and the wrath of our justice system.”
