The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ST ANNE’S MP Hubert Chipman yesterday renewed calls for legislation to be brought to parliament to support the government’s new immigration policy.

Mr Chipman, shadow minister for foreign affairs and immigration, said the only person who had a clear understanding of the policy was Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell, and questioned how the new policy has affected the department’s backlog of citizenship applications.

He said officials have put the “cart before the horse” by targeting migrant communities before modernising infrastructure to process individuals.

“There was no written policy, this was enunciated in parliament by the minister. He said it was sent out for comments and by January 1 there would be legislation. January has come and gone there is still nothing written.

I spoke with the permanent secretary (Wednesday) and they still don’t have anything other than what was said in parliament.”

Mr Chipman added: “We’re rolling this policy out and trying to enforce it, if you promise these things will happen, get with it. It hasn’t been debated in parliament, nothing has happened so far.

“I don’t know how to measure it in the sense there is no written policy, I could be wrong but from what I can see you’re making these things up as you go.

“The officers I don’t think understand the policy, I don’t think anyone other than the minister understands the policy.”

He added: “You should have your system in place so you know who is who, and what’s going on, but there is no system in place.”

Mr Chipman spoke to The Tribune following a panel discussion on the new policy and its human rights implications at the College of the Bahamas Wednesday night.

Among solutions offered at the forum, Mr Chipman said he felt the computerization of the department would cut down on major issues of backlogs, misplaced files and mistaken arrests.

He maintained that he – with his party the Free National Movement – supported the policy but underscored the need for supporting legislation.

“Do the right thing,” he said, “we have a serious backlog of applications inside the department. What are we doing with the backlog? Nobody is talking about our borders, we invested in the Defence Force’s boats that’s great, but we need to shut down our borders. People are continuing to come, but the thing is you’re not dealing with the ones that are here.

“If you pick up 300 to 400 Haitians, and are only able to hold 60 of them, what does that say for the policy? What you’re doing is targeting and I don’t know that you have the right to do that,” he added.

Last September, Mr Mitchell announced that the new policy would take effect on November 1, 2014. The policy has attracted local and international criticism from human rights advocates for its perceived discrimination against Haitian migrants and persons living in the Bahamas of Haitian descent.