The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY Fred Smith accused the government of “punishing innocent immigrant children” for what their parents “may or may not have done”.

Mr Smith, who is also president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, said he “condemns in the strongest possible terms the announcement that children who do not possess student permits by December 2015 will be turned over to the Immigration Department”.

He was responding to Education Director Lionel Sands, who told The Tribune on Tuesday that students who do not meet the new immigration requirements for the fall semester will have until the end of December to produce the required documents before the Immigration Department intervenes.

In a statement, Mr Smith said the willingness to threaten minors, who themselves have done nothing wrong, with the terrifying prospect of being handed over to law enforcement if they show up to class undocumented, “is the height and definition of cowardly and reprehensible behaviour.”

“Both Prime Minister Christie and Director of Education Lionel Sands affirmed in recent weeks that no child would be barred from the classroom as a result of any new rules, only for the government to turn around and announce measures that will have precisely the opposite effect. It is yet another promise betrayed by this prime minister,” Mr Smith said.

“Though the new rules do not say so in as many words, if student permits are only for those who ‘have a right’ to be in The Bahamas, it follows logically that those who cannot show such a right will be denied the permit and thereby access to education. Even were this not the case, the government’s silence on the way forward for children whose status may be unclear will lead to the assumption of disqualification by an increasingly fearful and timid immigrant population. The government is no doubt fully aware of this inevitable effect.”

Mr Smith said the policy will lead to a “huge increase” in the numbers of uneducated and under-educated persons in this country.

He said: “It seems that they are content to reap the perceived electoral benefits regardless, perhaps because the social ills likely to result from the rise of yet another unskilled underclass will not be their problem, but rather that of future generations.

“We urge them to rediscover their conscience and speak out against this travesty before it is too late. Otherwise, history will not remember them kindly. Meanwhile, the GBHRA does not intend to allow the government to blatantly violate the provisions of the Education Act, which stipulates that all children in The Bahamas must attend school. We call on all right-thinking Bahamians to join us in this pledge. We also invite any parent who feels their child is being discriminated against by this policy to contact the association regarding recourse to legal action.”

In January, Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell announced that beginning this fall, every foreign person enrolled in school, even children born in The Bahamas to non-Bahamian parents, will be required to have a student permit and a passport with a residency stamp.

The student restrictions are part of a wider immigration policy introduced on November 1, 2014. That policy mandates, among other things, that every person in this country have a passport of their nationality with proof to legally reside and work in The Bahamas.