Far-right activist Tommy Robinson asked wealthy US backers to help him claim asylum

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Tommy Robinson asked wealthy US backers to help him claim asylum

British far-right activist’s team also approached Republican senator Ted Cruz’s office about securing a visa

Josh Halliday
Mon 12 Apr 2021 09.00 EDT

The anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson asked wealthy American backers to help him claim asylum in the US, the Guardian has learned, while his team approached the Republican senator Ted Cruz’s office about securing a visa.

Court documents released in the US show the English Defence League founder discussed moving his family to Texas in 2019, where he would earn money by speaking at venues “including evangelical churches”.

Such was the influence of Robinson’s supporters that they asked advisers to Cruz, the Republican former presidential candidate, for legal advice on securing an extended visa for “someone who needs protection”.

Terry Giles, a prominent American businessman and friend of Cruz, told the Guardian he asked the senator’s office for assistance but did not disclose that the visa was for Robinson.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, remains one of the UK’s highest-profile rightwing campaigners despite being banned from mainstream social media and beset by legal problems. The Luton-born activist has described people who fled the Syrian war as “fake refugees” who should be “sent back”.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/12/tommy-robinson-asked-wealthy-us-backers-help-claim-asylum

[sprinkleeninow]

1. 'They' all over the globe, aren't 'they'. eom

[abqtommy]

2. Yes, 'they' are and we have to hunt them all down and Lock. Them. Up.

[Grins]

3. Asylum from what?

He’s not charged with anything. From the article he seems worried about possible threats to his family. So...Texas?

How many guns are there in Texas in the hands of crackpots vs. the UK? How many people in Texas have been murdered - in church?

Hey! Tommy! Let me explain health care in Texas vs. the UK.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. He's frequently charged, and convicted, of a variety of frauds and violence

One was entering the USA on a false passport, so an asylum claim there was always a long shot.

Robinson's criminal record includes convictions for violence, financial and immigration frauds, drug possession and public order offences. He has been committed to prison for contempt of court.[13][14][15] He has served at least four separate terms of imprisonment: in 2005 for assault, in 2012 for using false travel documents to enter the United States, in 2014 for mortgage fraud,[16][17][18] and, in May 2018, Robinson was committed to prison for 13 months for contempt of court after publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering a law court, contravening a court order that disallows reporting on such trials while proceedings are ongoing. On 1 August 2018, due to procedural errors, he was released on bail pending a new hearing of the case.[19] On 5 July 2019, Robinson was again found guilty of contempt of court at the retrial and was committed at the Old Bailey to nine months in prison on 11 July․[20][21] Before his sentencing, Robinson appeared on InfoWars and appealed for political asylum in the United States.[22] He was released from prison on 13 September 2019 after serving 9 weeks.[23]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Robinson_%28activist%29

Hadn't heard this bit before:

Tommy Robinson has been accused of misusing supporters’ money, as he declares himself bankrupt despite receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations and funding, The Independent can reveal.

This month Robinson, the English Defence League (EDL) founder and now self-styled journalist, was listed on the insolvency register under his original name Stephen Christopher Lennon.

But The Independent has seen financial documents indicating the huge scale of funding given to Robinson since announcing “going independent” in 2018.

In little over two months, he received almost £425,000 in donations from his supporters, documents suggest. He is also believed to have raised a significantly larger amount after being jailed for contempt of court in May 2018, though an American group called Middle East Forum said it had funded his defence.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tommy-robinson-cocaine-donations-prison-b1787467.html

Not listed in the Wikipedia article, since he's got so many convictions it becomes tedious to give them all - banned from attending soccer matches in the world for 4 years: https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2020/12/16/far-right-activist-and-part-time-spanish-resident-tommy-robinson-banned-from-attending-football-after-violence-in-portugal/

And, still, I think, pending:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/tommy-robinson-arrested-suspicion-assault-22143705
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tommy-robinson-loses-latest-court-23021194

And there are conflicting reports of whether this has come to trial or not:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-51719838

The support that the far-right has for him, despite all this, is truly sickening.

[Crowman2009]

5. He's also a coke head.