Senator Fred Mitchell.
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
IMMIGRATION Minister Fred Mitchell said yesterday that this country has had a recent “deluge” of illegal migrants that will cost the government more than $83,000 to repatriate.
One of the latest interceptions happened last Wednesday night in Bimini where the Royal Bahamas Defence Force captured 168 people – 103 men, 28 women and 37 children – some of them being “babes in arms.”
Mr Mitchell said the children were not being housed at the Detention Centre, but at a safe house.
A group of Haitians were also repatriated on Monday at a cost of $16,000.
“Two additional flights are being arranged,” Mr Mitchell said in the House of Assembly. “We have to use a foreign carrier because the Bahamasair jet does not have the navigation aids to fly into Port-au-Prince without a waiver from the civil aviation authorities.
“Those flights will take 145 people each at a cost of $67,265. This excludes the cost of housing 16 officers in Miami and their return transport to Nassau.
“I bring this to the attention of the country to show that this continues to be a vexing, consistent and expensive issue.
“Instead of spending that money on docks, on roads, on airports, we have to spend it trying to send illegal migrants back home. We are trying to break the back of a continuing criminal enterprise. Increasingly there are reports of small boats leaving this country taking illegal migrants into the United States. This then is a national security issue. This country should not be a staging ground for illegal activity.”
Up to press time, there were 318 people being held at the Detention Centre. Of that number, Mr Mitchell said, 285 are Haitian. There are 30 migrants in the safe house – 20 are children and 10 are adults.
He said the government was continuing its work with countries in the region with a view to stopping illegal migration and bringing it under control.
Comments
Lovejoy 9 years, 7 months ago
Too much expense for the government ,I think sending them by boat is cheaper than by plane.
TalRussell 9 years, 7 months ago
Sorry, but Comrade Minister Freddy, not even when it comes to responding to my most favorite PLP cabinet minister, I just can’t edit out that taxpayers will find it difficult in sharing your tears over da $83,000, cuz it does still only work-out to be “almost the cost” of all your PLP colleagues and big shots, weekender entourage “deluged” into Freeport. Please minister, do say you didn’t board Air Carnival’s weekend flight into Freeport?
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2015…
afficianado 9 years, 7 months ago
These people have no regard for our resources.
sansoucireader 9 years, 7 months ago
What is Haiti doing? Do they want their countrymen to remain in Haiti? Haiti needs to work on improving situations there so Haitians will stay and not travel to the Bahamas and become a burden for the Bahamian people.
SP 9 years, 7 months ago
.......................................... Talking Shyt is Very Serious Ting .......................................
Fred Mitchell continue talking bullshyt while the very policies implemented by the PLP are the catalyst for causing the ever increasing 'Deluge' Of Illegal Immigrants.
PLP announced that EVERYONE legal or illegal will be documented and given some status in Bahamas, allowing illegals to work and their children to go to school.
What the phuck they thought would result from such stupidity? This is an open invitation for illegal Haitians to hurry and come now....So they are doing just that!
Where is the legislation fining business's and individuals for hiring illegals? Where are the round ups?
Bahamas is plagued with jackass's, and government seems to be the place jackass's gravitate to.
Dominican Republic has the right formula for illegal Haitian migrants, which is to expel all of them no matter how many generations of children they have or how long they've been in the country illegally.
Dominican's also STOOD THEIR GROUND with international agencies, telling them POINT BLANK "Dominican Republic is a sovereign nation and nobody from anywhere has a right to dictate, or envolve themselves in the affairs of Dominican Republic!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Dominican Republic set precedence. Bahamas Just needs to stop kissing everybody's ass's grow a pair, follow their lead and do what is best for Bahamas......Get the dam Haitian parasite out before they finish destroying our country.
http://m.bbc.com/news/world-latin-ameri…
NO MORE SUCKING UP TO DAMN HAITIANS!!!!
spoitier 9 years, 7 months ago
If the hole in the boat is too big then more emphasis should be placed on patching the hole. You could bail all you want but sooner or later the boat will sink because you are taking on more water than you could bail.
John 9 years, 7 months ago
What ever happened to those ones HIA released from the detention center? Maybe rather than just sending them back home it is time to start putting the more affluent illegal immigrants before the courts and levying hefty fines and including the cost of repatriation in the judgment.
PaulaMaria 9 years, 7 months ago
illegal migrations are a very common problem in our society and I have to say that I am not actually seeing a static solution in this regard. I pretty much understand why people choose to leave their motherland, but on the other hand I have to addmit that this is not a good situation either for the country where they are emigrating. http://www.toot.ro/author/marius/ ">Valentin
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 7 months ago
Decades of reckless irresponsible policies of both the FNM and PLP aimed at "vote getting at any cost" continue the mission of these two parties to have the Bahamas under majority Haitian rule by 2025. Vomit Christie and Freddy Boy are not the least bit serious about doing anything about the Haitian invasion of our country.......for every one Haitian they send back home, they let at least three more into our country and they know this to be a fact!
spoitier 9 years, 7 months ago
You are correct, that is why they should patch the boat first.
Required 9 years, 7 months ago
$67,265 for 145 people? That's $463.83 per person. JetBlue offers one-way tickets to Port-au-Prince for about $300...
SP 9 years, 7 months ago
You just reach aye? You didn't include anything in your calculations for graft!
Sickened 9 years, 7 months ago
If our economy continues to tank like is has for the last 6 years those human smugglers going to the states will have no room for Hatians. The boats will be full of Bahamians trying to escape economic hardship and political persecution. It may even get so bad that the Hatian sloops will be loading up here with Bahamians for the return trip to Haiti. I can picture it now 300 Hatians running up South Beach to get to the bushes while 500 Bahamians running down to the water's edge to get their space on the sloop.
asiseeit 9 years, 7 months ago
Hire one big ass freighter and load them up, they get here by boat so they can go back by boat! Also someone asked what Haiti is doing about this, short answer, NOTHING, they benefit from this migration, how much money leaves the Bahamas for Haiti in a single day. How about limiting, stopping the wire transfers to Haiti? That might slow the tide if they can't get the money home.
spoitier 9 years, 7 months ago
The first part of your post is wrong because it would be inhumane and cause more problem to the Bahamas number 1 industry. The second part of your post makes a lot of sense, at the least make it more difficult to send money to Haiti by adding a higher percentage of tax or something.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 7 months ago
Our number 1 industry has been dealt too many death blows ...... Thanks to Christie, Mr. Z's family, the Chinese Government and the Bahamas will soon all be labelled with one of the largest financial debacles ever in the tourism industry, namely Baha Mar!
spoitier 9 years, 7 months ago
I've said it before and no one in government will probably do it but they need to enhance our agriculture industry and use the illegals that have been caught to work off their debt rather than jailing them or deporting them immediately. This could work both ways because you don't have to send them home empty handed after the set time is up and that will also drive the price of produce down. Bahamians don't want those jobs anyways.
Cas0072 9 years, 7 months ago
As long as they leave the shores of Haiti, no amount of RBDF boats at sea can seriously stop waves of illegal immigrants from at least reaching Bahamian waters if they are determined to do so. Even worse, if they are also supported by organized human smuggling rings. Stopping the flow needs to start in Haiti. Last year the US resorted to running ads in Central America to discourage people from sending unaccompanied minors to the US. The ads made it very clear that they would not earn a path to citizenship, that they will not be allowed to stay, and basically that they were risking their lives for nothing. Perhaps the Bahamas should do something similar in Haiti because the smugglers selling points have so far been very effective.
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