The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

IMMIGRATION Minister Fred Mitchell has been pleased with the support from Bahamians for the new immigration policies implemented a year ago.

“It has worked well and many have complied with the new rules,” he said on Friday in Grand Bahama.

Mr Mitchell noted that the new policies also includes those who have been entering the schools, and said the Ministry of Education is conducting a review of the schools to see how it has worked because the extended deadline of 90 days is coming up at the end of the year.

Bahamian human rights activists were opposed to the new policies, which also drew strong criticism from Florida House Representative Daphne Campbell, who believes they are discriminatory to Haitians, and had launched boycotts against The Bahamas.

Mr Mitchell said that it is important from a national security perspective that the country knows who is actually within its borders.

“Generally speaking, (the policies have) worked well and (have) had a salutary effect in terms of trying to tighten up the rules and to make sure we have a sense of who is actually in The Bahamas which is what this is all about – it’s just a playing out of our national security issues. I am thankful for the support which the Bahamian public has given to the policies and it shows you the issues we face as recently as yesterday when you see 112 people interdicted in the high seas off Long Island on the same day we were repatriating 142 from Nassau back to Port au Prince.

“So we have a continuous fight and the Immigration Department is doing a good job trying to police the borders given the resources they have,” he said.

When asked about support in Abaco to the new policies, the minister stated that the level of complaints is about the same. “Abaco is very difficult issue to deal with and very complex because of the way Abaco’s economy is built. But what I can say is that the public has been more forthcoming in co-operating with the Immigration Department and the immigrant community there has been more forthcoming with complying with the rules and regulations; they too want to comply and that’s a good thing.”

He added that in the process of choosing an office in Abaco initial discussions have taken place with the Director of Immigration to put a Public Affairs Unit in the Department of Immigration similar to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

“You will have a spokesman for Immigration so you can ask them questions and it is not always dealt with in a political level, which may tend to be fractious and difficult for people. To have some more neutral spokesman deal with the actual facts on the ground and the things that we are dealing with. This would include, for example, the Detention Centre, the reconstruction and rebuilding that is going to be going on there.”

Mr Mitchell said that Cabinet made a decision for awarding of a contract for further redevelopment of the centre. He added that the Detention Centre rules are almost completed in their review and will come into force.

“The safe houses are working well so women and children are not kept in the centre. We did a number of things we still need to make some improvements. But with resources we have we have done well, and will continue to work at it on a daily basis,” he said.