The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FOX Hill MP Fred Mitchell yesterday insisted that the Bahamas government does not sanction the abuse of people who are detained for immigration matters.

Mr Mitchell added that while he could not speak for any individual’s conduct, any public servant found to have transgressed would face the full extent of the law.

He was speaking amid looming allegations of abuse from people who have been detained by immigration officials over the past few weeks during the debate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bill 2014 at Parliament, which was passed last night.

“I submit with every fibre of my being that as far as the information that I have no detainee in this country has been abused by sanction of the Bahamas government,” Mr Mitchell said. 

“You can’t speak for people’s individual conduct, but those who infringe or break the laws in any way, they will meet justice and will bear the penalty. But the state is not associated in any way with that and we work with all of our neighbours to make sure our reputation is intact and that we have proceeded with this with equanimity and that we are not trying to target any particular group.”

Mr Mitchell went on to speak specifically about allegations from human rights advocate Fred Smith, QC, who said he was accosted by immigration officers as he tried to take pictures of them carrying out an operation at the Lynden Pindling International Airport. 

The Minister explained that on the day of the alleged incident, immigration officials had just interdicted 13 Chinese nationals who were found in the midst of a smuggling operation to the United States. He said each of the men was found with large sums of money.

Mr Smith’s actions on that day, Mr Mitchell said, were nothing more than “gamesmanship.” 

Mr Smith has also accused the government of “ethnic cleansing” with the enactment of the new immigration policies on November 1. On that day, there were several round-ups of illegal immigrants, mainly Haitians, throughout New Providence. The raids have continued.

“With regard to Fred Smith, he should learn to read. There is no policy that this government proposes which will require in law Bahamians to carry identity documents. 

“You are all aware, however, that passports are a requirement of every modern state and the Bahamas is no different. Our measures are administrative and in no way infringe on the human or civil rights of anyone. He says he is taking legal action based on the fact of a mandatory identity document. He will in fact be going to court if he does – based on a fiction; a figment of his imagination. 

“For him to suggest otherwise is unbalanced lunacy and he should withdraw his slander of the Immigration department.

“Imagine a Bahamian accusing the Immigration Department of ‘ethnic cleansing’. That is a crime against humanity. Is he mad? Has he taken leave of his senses? Where is the evidence?” Mr Mitchell asked.