The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

CRITICAL of the hypocritical nature of Bahamians concerning law enforcement, former Immigration Minister Loftus Roker called on the country to “enforce all laws or change them”.

Mr Roker was unapologetic as he defended his ministerial tenure at the Department of Immigration during a panel forum on the interconnectivity of immigration, human rights, and social justice last week.

Drawing a distinction between his rigid enforcement style and storied legacy, and the current efforts of Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell, Mr Roker said he was a nationalist from Acklins who never compromised on his duty to enforce the country’s laws.

“I’ve been invited to a few things like this before,” he said, “but I never accepted the invitation because I thought I should wait for a time when history will have showed us things.

“You either enforce the law or you change the law, that has always been my position.”

Mr Roker said. “What do you want me to do, which law should we break and which law shouldn’t we break? We should uphold all the laws and if we don’t like the law we change it.”

Fielding questions from the children of people deported during his tenure, Mr Roker said he did not have a prejudice against Haitian nationals and recounted experiences when he had to deny the wishes of his own party members in his fearless execution of the law.

Among the high-profile applications denied under his administration was an application for two gardeners by the wife of then-Prime Minister and leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Sir Lynden Pindling. Mr Roker said he didn’t think Dame Marguerite Pindling ever spoke to him again after he declined the application submitted by her chief gardener.

Mr Roker underscored the irony of recent allegations of cruelty and inhumane treatment of migrants, as well as international scrutiny, lodged against the Immigration Department and Mr Mitchell.

Mr Roker said: “When I was trying to do my job I did my job, I might have been harsh but I did my job.”

“(In the 80s), Mr Mitchell was up there marching,” he said, “saying how cruel and inhumane I was. I wonder what he thinks now when Mr (Fred) Smith says he’s cruel and inhumane. I wonder what he’s saying now.”

Part of the Imoja lecture series, Mr Roker was flanked by panellists, including Queen’s Counsel lawyers Fred Smith and Wayne Munroe; activist and radio talk show host Louby Georges, and College of the Bahamas associate professor Felix Bethel.

The forum was the first time the former immigration minister met face-to-face with Mr Smith, president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, who actively campaigned against his execution of immigration policy during the 1980s.

“Mr Roker’s policy was to do it very inflexibly but Roker followed the law of The Bahamas,” Mr Smith said, “I don’t agree with how he did much of it, but he at least respected the law.

“Mr Mitchell is turning The Bahamas upside down. The policy he has isn’t even written anywhere.

“In the raids that (Roker) undertook, he made sure everybody was taken before the court and charged with either working without a permit or overstaying. He actually observed the law.”

Mr Munroe countered that the Immigration Act permits the minister to sign deportation orders, and does not require court proceedings. He charged that the combined populations of Jamaica and Haiti in comparison to The Bahamas made it clear why strict policy was needed.

He challenged that if there was valid evidence that The Bahamas government was breaking the law then Mr Smith would bring a legal challenge, and he would expect to read a court judgment on the matter within the next six to nine months.

The pair also locked horns over the entitlement right to citizenship prescribed by the Constitution. Mr Munroe maintained that persons born in The Bahamas to foreign parents were only entitled to the right to apply for citizenship.

Mr Munroe said: “Anyone who feels shackled can be quite free if they return home, I am free in my country, you can be free in your country. If we do not extend an invitation to you, you cannot crash my house.”

However, Mr Smith pointed to the case of Attain Takitota, a Japanese immigrant who successfully sued The Bahamas government for wrongful imprisonment.

Mr Takitota was jailed for several years after being picked up, suspected of being an illegal immigrant.

“Deportation or arrest with a view to deportation without being taken before a court is not permissible,” Mr Smith added.

The forum was sponsored by the Eugene Dupuch Law School, the Bahamas Bar Association, the College of the Bahamas and the government.

Offering perspective on Mr Roker’s earlier statements on Acklins, lawyer Dion Hanna pointed to the historic ties between the poverty-stricken people of Acklins and Haiti. During Mr Roker’s childhood, Mr Hanna recalled that Acklins’ residents often relied on the health care and food systems in Haiti, which was closer geographically.

Seeking to illustrate the difficult task of enforcement, Mr Roker said: “The American Coast Guard flying over Cay Lobos saw a group of people on the cay. This is a barren cay. They informed the Bahamas government, we sent the police there where a large group of Haitians were discovered, and as The Miami Herald said, the Haitians said that they would rather die on Cay Lobos than go back to Haiti.

“Just think about that,” he added, “what are the police to do? When the police tried to get them in the boat they started fighting the police with rocks and sticks. What are they to do? How can they humanely deal with that? Leave them on the cay to die? We don’t want them in The Bahamas.”