The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell said yesterday that Haitian Ambassador Jean Victor Geneus’ critique of the Christie administration’s new immigration policy to clamp down on illegal migration was “materially incorrect”.

Mr Geneus told The Tribune on Tuesday that elements of the immigration policy were sluggish, adding that it was a disorganised process marred by ethnic profiling.

Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday in an attempt to refute Ambassador Geneus’ deluge of issues with how immigration matters are handled, Mr Mitchell said the government remains relentless in seeking to prevent irregular migration to The Bahamas, no matter the source country.

His response came the day after Ambassador Geneus said that the introduction of the belonger’s permit did not solve the immigration problem, pointing to a backlog of some 2,000 applicants waiting for the “restrictive” document.

However, Mr Mitchell said this is not true as there are 598 applications for these permits with 338 already processed.

Ambassador Geneus also admitted that sometimes the Haitian government was very concerned by what appeared to be discriminatory practices against Haitians in The Bahamas among other troubling issues.

Mr Mitchell said: “This morning (Wednesday) I asked the ambassador to attend a meeting with myself and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where I told the ambassador that I could not allow those allegations to stand. They are all materially incorrect.

“There is no requirement for people applying for the belonger’s permit to do so outside of the country. This policy applies to work permit applicants who are applying for the first time. There is no policy of profiling of Haitians and the policy is not discriminatory toward Haitians. The policy is a generic policy which applies to all non-nationals.

“I also indicated that one would expect that in relations between friendly countries, no such statement should be made which takes the other by surprise.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised me that there is no record of a request for any meeting by the embassy on this matter since the ambassador’s tenure.”

Regarding Ambassador Geneus’ concerns about a scheduled deportation of three Haitian children, Mr Mitchell confirmed that they will be deported along with the relative with whom they illegally travelled to the country.

He said the government would not allow this trend to continue where children are allowed to enter the country in the absence of their parents or guardians.

“Three children who are being sent back to Haiti came to this country in a boat with an adult who they described as their uncle. They were interdicted in Exuma on July 12 and are being sent back with the adult with whom they came. A fourth child arrived in Exuma on August 4 and will be returned with an adult that the child identifies as a cousin.

“Mr Speaker, since this statement was written, the ministry has advised me that the Haitian Embassy has made a formal call on the foreign ministry with regard to three children out of Abaco.

“The answer to that is that the three children are with their mother in the safe house. The policy is that the children should be with their mother who has no legal status. The embassy has said that the father has legal status and may want the children to remain with the father, except that they are not married and our law in those cases is the mother has custody of the child. The practice is the child will remain with the mother. That is the answer on the situation out of Abaco.

“Sir, we cannot allow a trend to develop of sending young unaccompanied children here with the suggestion that the Bahamas is open to this violation of our laws.”

He added: “I also took time to reaffirm that the policy announced that came into affect on November 1, (2014) remains firmly in place and I sought the assurance of the ambassador that the embassy would encourage its citizens to comply with the laws of the Bahamas.

“In particular I reiterated that all students needed to get a permit to reside to live lawfully in the Bahamas and that all who were born here to non-national parents should obtain the passport of their nationality and a permit to reside.”

His statement was questioned by Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner who raised concern about Mr Mitchell’s level of diplomacy.

She said: “It is becoming more and more common place in this Parliament where it appears that diplomacy and matters to do with foreign affairs are answered for some reason here.

“I just rise to ask the question on behalf of the Bahamian people: Was this the first time that the minister with responsibility for immigration became aware of the issues that the ambassador from Haiti was having? Because I just find it really difficult to believe this would have gotten to this point where it played out in the press in having to be answered in here.

“Not that the Bahamian people do not deserve to know, but diplomacy is exactly that part of being diplomatic and being able to deal with all of these different states that are represented inside of the country and outside of the country,” she said.