The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Human Rights Association President Fred Smith yesterday said Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell does not have the “power” under the Immigration and Education Acts to impose new immigration restrictions that require students of foreigners living in The Bahamas to have a school permit to attend classes.

Mr Smith said Mr Mitchell, who recently defended the new restrictions from criticism, had “failed to identify any section of the Immigration or Education Act which makes the ‘new visa rules’ under the ‘new immigration education policy’ lawful”.

He said Mr Mitchell was acting “ultra vires” of the Immigration Act, the Education Act and the Constitution.

Mr Smith was responding to the government’s recently announced new immigration restrictions, which would require every foreign person enrolled in schools, including children born in The Bahamas to immigrants, to have a student permit.

Mr Smith said the GBHRA would launch a “class action” suit against the government to “protect the rights of innocent children born in The Bahamas who are of foreign parents”.

“In defending the policy, Minister Mitchell has referred to the Immigration Act,” Mr Smith said in a statement. “However, he failed to identify any section of the Immigration or Education Act which makes the ‘new visa rules’ under the ‘new immigration education policy’ lawful. In addition, the new November documentation policy is not sanctioned by any law either. Neither policy is authorised by anything stated in the Immigration Act or the Constitution. The Constitution is clear about who is entitled to be registered as a citizen under Article 7.

“The new immigration student visa policy conflicts with the Education Act. The minister of education is statutorily required to educate all children in the Bahamas. There is no reference to nationality, documentation or status. Under the Education Act, there can be no discrimination and this is an echo of the Constitutional prohibition against discrimination.”

On Monday, Mr Mitchell released a statement which defended the restrictions for children, stressing that they were in accordance with the Immigration Act and a part of the Christie administration’s wider policies.

Mr Smith, the most vocal critic of the government’s immigration measures, has previously said the policy change was a “vile and cowardly tactic of seeking to deny children the right to an education.”

Former Minister of Immigration Brent Symonette has warned that making it harder for children of immigrants to get an education could create a slippery slope that results in a myriad of long-term social problems for Bahamians.

Mr Mitchell has said the restrictions “were in accordance with the Immigration Act and a part of the Christie administration’s wider policies”.

The new restrictions will apply for the fall school semester, according to Mr Mitchell.

The school permit rule would help the government keep track of who works and lives in the Bahamas and who attends schools here, Mr Mitchell has said.

The annual school permit costs $25 with a $100 processing fee.

The changes are part of a wider immigration policy that came into effect on November 1.

That policy mandates that every person living in the Bahamas has a passport of their nationality with proof to legally reside in this country, among other restrictions.