The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

A STATELESS man of Cuban descent, who served in the US Navy, has been held at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre for more than a decade, one of several migrants in limbo at the facility, The Tribune was told.

Immigration Director William Pratt confirmed to The Tribune at least five migrants were being held at CRDC indefinitely as the government works to regularise their status.

Mr Pratt could not provide an exact figure during an interview with

The Tribune yesterday, but estimated the number of migrants currently experiencing long-term detention was between five and seven persons.

The estimated cost of housing migrants at the CRDC is $30 per migrant per day, according to Mr Pratt, who told The Tribune that the sum was calculated several years ago and likely outdated.

Under Bahamian law, there is no provision for the long-term detention of persons without formal charge by the courts. Under the Penal Code, police are able to hold a person for questioning for up to 48 hours and then petition the courts for an extension up to four days.

The Tribune was unable to obtain confirmation on individual cases from the government; however, legal counsel for several migrants at the facility confirmed lengthy detention times exceeding five years.

In the case of the retired US marine, he was first detained in 2004, and later released in 2008. The man applied for status, but was unable to obtain a Cuban passport, and was subsequently denied a Bahamian work permit.

According to his lawyer, who requested anonymity, the stateless man was picked up a year after his initial release and is still detained at the Carmichael Road compound.

“He was born in Cuba and was taken to the US when he was a baby, like months old,” the lawyer from the firm of Callenders and Co said.

“He’s a retired marine lieutenant in the US Navy. He always had a green card, but never applied for citizenship because he needed background information.”

The lawyer said the detainee in question lost his green card when he was initially picked up and it is likely expired by now. 

“They tried to get it from Cuba but couldn’t so they have no record of his birth. He wants to stay in the Bahamas, because he’s found love here but all of his family is in Florida. He has health issues, and needs urgent surgery on his back.”

The lawyer added: “People get lost in the system all the time, because of the large numbers. It’s a very ugly system.”

Another case involves a Kenyan man who applied for a work permit after his marriage broke down after two years. The work permit was denied, and he has been held at the detention centre since 2011, according to the lawyer.

In another case, a Nigerian man who is an amputee is said to have been detained at the Carmichael Road compound since 2014.

Yesterday, Mr Pratt stressed that the department was working to resolve the status of all migrants, and said lengthy stays were not indicative of systemic flaws but complex individual cases.

“When we pick up people we try our best to get them regularised, so when we release them they are legal,” he said. “It’s useless to pick up someone and release them with no documents. How could you just put people out like that, with no documents, nowhere to live or go? We’re trying to get that sorted out, hopefully all those long-term persons.”

Speaking generally, Mr Pratt said: “We have some Cubans there who were previously residents of the United States. They were caught smuggling other Cubans, now the US don’t want them, Cuba don’t want them, so they stuck with us. We were trying to get IOM (International Organisation for Migration) and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) to assist, we’re working to get them all out. Those who want to go to another country and they get their document, they’re free to go to another country.

“If any Bahamian wishes to offer sponsorship then they are free to come forward. It has to be someone saying I’m willing to take this person in and be accountable for them.”

He continued: “We had Cubans who were granted refugee status here and they vanish from the Bahamas. If they were granted refugee status, and we give them temporary status here and if they smuggle their way to the States they can’t blame the Bahamas government.”

Mr Pratt’s statements follow criticisms levelled by former detainees who were, in separate cases, held for more than two years at the facility despite their refugee status with UNHCR.

The refugees, who were released last month, recounted a demoralising experience of subsisting with inadequate food, hygiene and housing while struggling to understand their status with no clear explanation of their fate.

The allegations raised serious questions about the regulatory framework, or lack thereof, guiding operations at the CRDC, specifically as it relates to the medical treatment and mental health of detainees.

Yesterday, Mr Pratt declined comment on operations at the facility and instead deferred comment to its Superintendent Peter Joseph.

Speaking about the recent release, Mr Pratt said: “They never presented no passport to us, one of those persons, we didn’t know who he was, based on the names he was giving us. We went through (Ministry of) Foreign Affairs, who went through the embassy in Washington, and we could not get no passport for this man.

“It’s not the department’s fault the applicants didn’t have any travel documents,” he added.

“We follow the UN protocol; our officers are trained to interview persons who want to claim asylum. We make recommendations and send it on to UN to double check it.”

“If there is a claim to be granted refugee status, and it is granted, we normally would release them in accordance with UNHCR, and usually what happens is we would turn them over to the Red Cross to house them.”

“We do it on a case by case basis,” Mr Pratt said.

Taking issue with the characterisation of processing by immigration officials, Mr Pratt yesterday also pushed back against criticisms that his department did not follow the law to obtain a deportation order from the court before repatriating migrants.

Mr Pratt said: “If we take them all to the court, it would overwhelm the courts, the court will fine them and they can’t pay the fine, so they’ll stay in Fox Hill for months and months. “It’s easier and cost effective so they won’t be a further burden on the taxpayers.

“We profile them, we question them, they give us this information, we have to check our databank to ensure they don’t have any records with us.

“Of course we check, we check our records,” he said.

“The name you give us, the place and date of birth, for everyone of foreign descent in the country (Department of) Immigration should have some file or record for them. Once we don’t have no record we consider you an illegal migrant.”