By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
ENFORCEMENT of immigration policies should be done in a humane way, Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Hubert Chipman said yesterday.
New immigration policies took effect on Saturday. Tensions over the stricter policies continue to mount after images and video of adults and children, some in diapers, being taken into custody by Department of Immigration officers spread over social media websites.
Purported footage of round-up exercises, which took place on Saturday, surfaced on CNN’s iReport website that attracted nearly 8,000 views on the web-page and 2,000 shares on Facebook up to yesterday evening. iReport allows people from around the world to post videos and pictures of breaking news along with supporting stories. A link to a YouTube video attached to the article has gathered more than 10,000 views.
Mr Chipman told The Tribune that while he supports the new policies, the round ups must be done “in a humane way.”
“I don’t know how many round ups were conducted yesterday (Saturday) or over the weekend. However, we’ve gone through this situation before and we got a black eye for it, you know, where we rounded up people, waking kids and their parents out of their beds. I don’t agree with that even though they may be here illegally,” he added. “There must be some humane way that you can conduct these round-ups.”
The new policies mandate that persons who are applying for a work permit without legal status will need to be certified by a local embassy or nearest Bahamas mission in their home country. Certificates of identity issued to persons born to foreign parents legally residing in the Bahamas will not be renewed, instead a passport of their nationality with a resident stamp will be required.
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell recently acknowledged that the passport requirement for non-nationals was the most contentious issue with the new policy, however he maintained that persons born in the Bahamas to foreign parents are not automatically entitled to citizenship.
Mr Mitchell had also previously confirmed that children in the Bahamas born to illegal migrants will be deported with their parents, explaining that while these children could not receive a resident stamp, there was consideration to amend the visa regulations so that affected persons with a contingent right to apply for citizenship could re-enter the country.
In September Mr Mitchell said the government was also considering a ban on people who have previously entered the Bahamas illegally and have been deported from ever obtaining legal status.
Yesterday, Mr Chipman said: “The question that should be raised is whether in fact the facilities to hold persons from such round-ups can do so.”
“The Detention Centre right now as you are aware, has an excess of over 300 people and I think it’s at its capacity. The question is when we round up these people, what exactly are we going to do with them? How soon will we repatriate these people back to their homelands?” the shadow minister asked.
According to figures released by the Department of Immigration last month, 3,417 immigrants from 24 different countries were repatriated to their homelands since the beginning of the year.
Eighty-three per cent of the migrants repatriated were from Haiti.
Comments
TalRussell 10 years ago
Comrade Chippie reinforces the silliness of not deporting the children with their illegal parents who are left behind grow up and work as illegal's, then when considered adults will play on how they been here too long now, not be granted citizenship and passports. Has Chippie and his red party forgotten it was this same immigration silliness that weighed heavily to bring down the too quick empty immigration detention center, grant work permits, passports and citizenship's as before under Papa Hubert regime? Only months now, before the Haitian Embassy I am told, relocates their offices into the obviously gone pro anything Haitian - Nassau Guardian and Guardian Radio premises. Just maybe you have wake-up children to prevent the later abuse of Bahamaland's passports and citizenship's. If not, will the last native to leave, please turn out damn lights. Oh, I forgets, da BEC Pot cake Chairman will do it without having ask pull down lights-off switch? She as a nation will not be so easily recognizable in 20 years. Comrades listen red shirts and Little Bahama Haiti is a 2017 campaign platform certainty.
mangogirl01 10 years ago
You are right, if he wants the illegal children to stay and just send their illegal parents back is he willing to house them and feed them?? I think not!
mangogirl01 10 years ago
The NG needs to cancel LG radio show ASAP! Now he has the audacity to say he's thinking about running in the 2017 elections! His paper citizenship really swell up his head talking a bunch of shit!!
Emac 10 years ago
The way these idiots are running this country if he does run in the next election, he will surely will win. Because we know which community votes in blocks!
Emac 10 years ago
The Bahamas claims to be a 'Christian' nation that follows the teachings of the bible. So let's look at what the bible has to say about the situation of illegal immigrants:Scripture says, “Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark” (Deuteronomy 27:17a). This meant that outsiders no more have the right to move a nation’s boundaries (by contempt for them or by seeking to eliminate them) than a thief does to move an individual’s property line. In other words, from a Christian prospective, whenever someone enters your country illegally, abuse and misuse your kindness, what do you do? Kick em to the curb. So if someone sneaks into a country 3am in the morning, then that person shouldn't have a problem being escorted out of the country 3am in the morning. Cut and dry!
ohdrap4 10 years ago
perish the thought this guy becomes a minister of govt.
he is full of hot air
stmonette was a much better mp
TalRussell 10 years ago
Only Comrade Brent can step in with any viable prospect of at least increasing House seats in 2017.
killemwitdakno 10 years ago
The writer of this story greatly exaggerates in the second and third paragraph. There was one picture of a baby being carried by an immigration officer with a soiled diaper along side his mother who was smiling. There was another video of few children being boarded onto a bus at which one local woman tried to say that they were her and her " sisters" kids. When the immigration asked the child, the child did not go with the woman. Obviously not their mother.
It's really unofficial looking to name CNN Ireport as if it's not a myspace, social media and therefore not credible. Views mean nothing. Worry about the story now in miamiherald after this particular unnecessary attention. Did Tribune do any investigating of scenarios whatsoever before publishing hearsay ?
Sign in to comment
OpenID