Call for calm after immigration raid

AN immigration officer walks with two young children during the Department of Immigration’s round-up of suspected illegal immigrants on Saturday.

As of Monday, November 3, 2014

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

IMMIGRATION and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday called for “calmness and equanimity” regarding the Department of Immigration’s weekend interdiction exercises and said Bahamians should not incite anger over the “routine” exercise.

He also refuted concerns that children might have been mishandled by Immigration officers during Saturday’s raids, explaining that children who were found without guardians present were taken into protective custody by Social Services officials.

His statements came after Department of Immigration officials picked up 77 people – including Chinese, Filipinos, Jamaican and Haitians – from various areas of New Providence the day the government’s immigration restrictions took effect.

The suspected illegal immigrants were rounded up from their neighbourhoods into large, yellow school buses and taken to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre for processing and potential repatriation.

After images and video of children being led away by Immigration officers spread over social media over the weekend, observers have questioned if officials took a number of Haitian children into custody without parental or guardian supervision.

In one of the videos, which was circulated online, a child in a soiled diaper was seen in the arms of an Immigration officer.

At a press conference at the Lynden Pindling International Airport yesterday, Mr Mitchell said Saturday’s operations should not be used by people to “inflame passions.” He said the matter of dealing with illegal migration is not one for “high drama”, but for a “routine sustained effort to ensure that we get in control of the issue and manage the problem.”

He also dismissed the “controversy” surrounding Saturday’s interdiction exercises, which, he said, was the result of “political operatives trying to make this more than it is.”

“There needs to be balance in all that we do in this, and I ask everyone to resist the temptation to make this an ‘us or them’ situation,” he said. “The government is not in that, and I am not in that personally. This is about national security. This is simply about enforcing the laws of the Bahamas in a calm, quiet and directed manner. The job has to get done in order to protect our borders; neither fear nor incitement should come out of this.”

On Saturday immigration officials scoured the island of New Providence in search of any person living and working in the Bahamas illegally. They searched southern New Providence, as well as some areas in the inner city.

Video footage was taken of the mass operation, some by local media outlets and some by private citizens.

One of the videos shows Immigration officers escorting a group of children, one of them apparently with a soiled diaper, onto a bus.

In the video, a voice was heard pleading with officers, saying, “At least let (her) change the baby’s diapers.”

A male officer replied: “She could change it on the bus.”

This sparked outrage from some observers who questioned how children were being treated by Immigration officials.

An angry user on CNN’s iReport website, which allows private citizens to upload photos, videos and stories of breaking news around the world, posted a video to the site of children being led away by Immigration officers. The user accused the Bahamian government of “malicious behaviour” and said “children are being snatched from their beds with soiled diapers and packed into a yellow school bus like animals.”

Up to press time, the report had attracted 8,786 views, 37 comments and 2,000 “shares” on social media sites.

However, Mr Mitchell yesterday dismissed any notion that children were mishandled. He said when children are found during an immigration raid without guardians present, officials from the Ministry of Social Services get involved and the children are taken into protective custody.

However, children of illegal immigrants who are found with their parents are deported with them.

“(On Saturday) when there was an immigration check, the adult connected with the children fled the scene and left the children on the scene,” he said. “That is my advice. So the children were taken into protective custody, and shortly thereafter they were released to an adult who took them into their custody. There are other children who are in the Detention Centre, but they were interdicted with their parents on board boats that came here during the last week, and they’re being repatriated with their parents to Haiti on Tuesday.

“The two examples are what I’m advised about, and no one in the Department of Immigration would be involved in any such thing. But there’s no voracity to any allegation that I’m aware of that has to do with abuse of any kind.”

Yesterday he announced that two Bahamas Air jets bound for Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with 228 illegal Haitian nationals will leave the country on Tuesday.

As of yesterday, there were 496 people in the Detention Centre.

In September, Mr Mitchell announced that the government would impose new immigration restrictions on November 1 in a bid to clamp down on illegal migration, particularly from Haiti.

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afficianado 10 years ago

Well done Mr. Mitchell!!!

ThisIsOurs 10 years ago

This is a sad situation especially as kids are involved, The kids are probably afraid, their parents ran away, adults are visibly upset and "police officers" are taking them someplace they don't know. But I don't see anyone being mistreated.

The parents are here illegally. Everyone knows illegal entry into any country results in deportation. Ignoring the illegal immigration problem has led us to where we are today with really serious health threat on our hands.

Wide use of outside toilets in these immigrant communities could lead to a disease outbreak. I'm constantly concerned about the possibility of the Ebola virus getting into some water system and being here in perpetuity. I learned this weekend that Ebola infected individuals in the US are not allowed to flush toilets before their waste is treated. What happens if an Ebola infected person shows up in one of these shanty towns? What happens when their waste seeps into the ground and mixes with God knows what water system?

In terms of disease spread, Ebola is probably the least of our concerns. Something has to be done. Too many illegal immigrants are flooding here. They have obviously been given the message that with enough bribes they can find work and a place to stay.

mangogirl01 10 years ago

Please don't ease up Mr. Mitchell and kudos to our hard working immigration officers who carried out their duties in an efficient and respectful manner especially in dealing with the children. Those illegal parents who ran off and left their children should be the first ones deported! Trying to put the blame of abandoning their children on our people, hell to the no!

jackbnimble 10 years ago

This is the most sensible thing the Government has done since election. I think we are finally getting somewhere. My only issue is with how long it took. They let it fester too long. Lots of illegals are entrenched in our country and do not want to go back home and are desperate enough to try anything. By the way, this is how they did it in the past. Leave the children with the hope that the country would retain them (especially if they are born here) to ensure that they still get what they came for - a better life - even if it's for their children. Sad.

SP 10 years ago

Many Haitians send their children alone with friends or guardians to the Bahamas in search of a better life.

Unfortunately these children are now caught between a rock and a hard place because their parents decided it was worth the risk.

This is a most regrettable circumstance. However, Bahamians are not the cause and cannot be held accountable for these children's dilemma.

We must leave emotion out of the equation, understand the situation for what it is, and deal with the facts of the matter accordingly.

The bottom line is, these illegal "little darlings" will not remain children for very long. They will require healthcare, protection, education, social services and one day jobs and add to illegal activities, further exasperating an already out of control explosive situation that WILL AFFECT INDIGENOUS BAHAMIANS as long as they are allowed to remain in our country.

It is unfortunate for them, but not of our doing or problem. Send the illegal children back to Haiti where they belong.

Emac 10 years ago

LOl you cold now. You sayin send them back in such a nice way...KML But I hear what you sayin

asiseeit 10 years ago

“calmness and equanimity” , These idiots in the HOA do know that the grade average in the Bahamas is D, right? What ASSHOLES!

Sickened 10 years ago

It is sad that this NEEDS to be done. It is very hard to say but... Good job Mr. Mitchell! Boy, I never thought I would say that.

jackbnimble 10 years ago

Lol. Me either!

duppyVAT 10 years ago

We dont need calm .. we need the friggin illegals GOOOOOONNNNNNNNNEEEEEEE

Emac 10 years ago

Sad to say, but I don't imagine these raids continuing on a consistent basis. I would bet my bottom dollar that someone from the top will soon interject sayin, "Now be careful Freddie boy. Ya don wan upset too much a dese people in the Haitian community, cause ya know we gon need dey votes." After which, the saga will continue...............

jackbnimble 10 years ago

This is a Cabinet decision. Fred just got his marching orders and is the front man on this. I applaud the Government's efforts and now that they are finally dealing I for one will not be pessimistic.

TalRussell 10 years ago

Really now, how in hell can you Comrades be so damn concerned about immigration officials leading children away, and by all accounts carried out in a caring and respectful manner, but never said a damn word to these same parents when they risked the very lives their own little children placing them aboard overcrowded sailing sloops with no toilets, little food and water and in some cases children, along with adults, have drowned during the unsafe voyages from Haiti into Bahamaland's waters. Enough is enough - stop fixings your mouths on that Guardian Creole Talk Show, telling Bahamalander's how they are suppose to treat you. The Comrade Owners of Guardian Radio should be embarrassed for their actions. Did you get your Broadcasting License from President Haiti? How crazy is this?

jackbnimble 10 years ago

Child, Tal you can't tell these people nothing. They been feeding themselves lies for years. Lies about their right to citizenship at birth and lies about how we treat them. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you let such issues fester too long. People develop a sense of entitlement. They are now in a tailspin because we have been talking the talk for years and never got around to actually walking the walk. Remember a drowning man will clutch at a straw. But don't pay any attention to it. We need to just forge ahead and stick together as authentic citizens and get our country back.

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