Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Deputy Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
IMMIGRATION Minister Elsworth Johnson said yesterday the government has done nothing wrong regarding its handling of illegal migrants seeking refuge in the country.
Instead, he insisted, government has abided by the laws of the country.
Mr Johnson was defending government officials’ recent trip to a shanty town in Abaco. He said the trip was not intended to round up illegal immigrants, but to meet with the Abaco Chamber of Commerce.
The government has said undocumented migrant storm victims are not protected from deportation, prompting an outcry from local and international human rights groups.
“We have to follow the rule of law,” the minister said as a guest on Guardian Radio’s The Revolution with host Juan McCartney.
He also said: “I want to say to persons, sometimes we don’t come checking for you in that light (for raids). We come checking that we can get the entire society up and running for people to return, for commerce to return, for financial services to return.
“For a government and a country dependent on Abaco and Freeport for them not to return to, not to normal, but to be better than what they were before and so that’s one of the things I want to highlight to persons when they see me move through.
“When we went down, we went to see the persons from the Chamber of Commerce.”
He was asked pointedly if the trip was set up so officials could ask for identification and fingerprint non-nationals.
To that, he replied: “I would say if that is required we would do that and to be quite honest we went to see officers who were living there. We had to take them out and send in another crew so when we moved about, yes, we were checking for identification, yes, we did check some status, but could we take them into custody?
“Some of the conversations were ‘How are you? Where is your parent?’
“The paper saying ‘oh they gone down there to pick them up’ but if we decide to go and pick up we are ensuring that we follow the laws of a democratic and sovereign country.”
Mr Johnson said Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis invited the International Organisation for Migration to monitor the Bahamas’ immigration practices, adding “so we haven’t done anything wrong.”
Comments
stillwaters 5 years, 1 month ago
Our government needs to do a job. Get rid of illegals. Every country with illegals deport regularly, especially the USA. Stop backtracking, apologizing, defending statements/actions.......Get the job done.
stillwaters 5 years, 1 month ago
Everything is about illegals....what about Bahamians who went through this same storm?
DDK 5 years, 1 month ago
THANK YOU!!
stillwaters 5 years, 1 month ago
Does this newspaper have any space in these columns for them?
Cas0072 5 years, 1 month ago
No time like the present to ensure that laws are upheld. Who has a crystal ball to predict a "right time" for enforcing immigration laws? No matter what, there is always some more pressing issue that they will use to deflect from immigration and that is why we are here now. If the government delays deportation, it wont be long before that sham rights group has them trying to claim ownership of the government owned shelters.
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 1 month ago
Simply unbelievable! Our current government has most assuredly not abided by the laws of our country, especially our immigration laws. For decades now these shanty towns have been wrongfully allowed to sprout up all over our country as a direct result of the failure of our PLP and FNM governments to enforce our immigation laws, building codes, etc. etc.
Elsworth Johnson should be charged with high treason for this outrageous position which he himself, as Minister of Immigration. has dared to announce to the Bahamian public. These words of Elsworth Johnson are a coded instruction for the many corrupt officials within our Immigration Department to work extra hard in granting fraudulent documents to the many thousands of Haitians who have entered our country illegally.
And Elsworth John would not have had the audacity and temerity to make such outrageous public utterances without the support of our Duckin' N Dodgin' Doc!
Elsworth Johnson must be of Haitian ancestry. He's certainly no 'true' Bahamian!
BahamaPundit 5 years, 1 month ago
The reason Haitians and those part Haitian are so dangerous is they immigrate to countries, get in power and then help their kind break the laws of said country. For whatever reason, this teamwork appears to be part of their cultural DNA. The other culture that does this is Chinese.
jamaicaproud 5 years, 1 month ago
What about those useless Jamaicans?
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 1 month ago
Thankfully they prefer Toronto.
joeblow 5 years, 1 month ago
... and they may have to stop throwing rocks and burning tires too!
BahamaPundit 5 years, 1 month ago
Why stop breeding? They send their extra people offshore in boats like farmers to the fields of the Earth. These people send back the world's harvest to Haiti. Over populating has been very profitable for Haitians. Why stop?
jamaicaproud 5 years, 1 month ago
All this ranting and obsession with Haitians? Granted it must be Annoying that Bahamians soon have to learn Creole in their own country?.. But when tragedy strikes you help all who are hungry, and not use it as a round up strategy. Some of you are filled with hate.
In a month or so when the international story breaks about how not one person who has known Haitian heritage has been listed as missing, and your country has stated it's open for business, on a burial ground where bodies have not been recovered. When people start comparing you all to Mynamar/ Burma? Obsession leads to hate and hate leads to bad decisions.
BTW how did KEith Knight get a work permit to defend Gibson? Or is Mr Knight an illegal?
My2centz 5 years, 1 month ago
Haitians didn't last a week in Jamaica after the earthquake in 2010, and it was a small number. They were shipped back because Jamaica "couldn't afford them", and sent them back to piles of stone and dust. How is that for inhumane?
On the other hand, Bahamas released detainees and allowed them to seek work during that period to help their families back home. Your hypocrisy is as laughable as the has been Jamaican artist constantly slandering Bahamians in three name of humanity...but has not once spoken out on the atrocous killings of repatriated Jamaicans and gays. More inhumanity.
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 1 month ago
Thank you.
jamaicaproud 5 years, 1 month ago
You and this gay thing. There have been no recorded hate crime in A Jamaica. You had to go back to 2010 well I will give you that. But why would anyone want to come live in Jamaica with it's dust and rocks? After Al,l Jàmaicà is just like Haiti, May we jump on some boats to Andros 2.
When we land we contact Uncle Fred Or one of his Haitian Bahamian henchmen. Who knows if their crusade extends to Jamaicans. Oops, Fred says he don't do Patois, only Kreyol.
No one takes Vegas seriously these days,, but unfortunately he is correct.. On a serious note, why is this a topic that arouses so much passion?
To answer your question. They should have given them refuge.A few live where I am from and they. Have done ok. They have adjusted and semi integrated. The main thing is, once they do not break the law we don't care. Because they are integrates, they don't get opportunity to become breeding machines. Frankly you Al need to go after the Politicians and big men who sponsor the sloops to your territory.
Ton_Heijnmans 5 years, 1 month ago
- Korrekt + It isn't just sectarianism, it's a manner of kultural deep-seated Tribal sectarianism you people brought with you in your dark hearts from that Fortress of Schloß Fredriksbørg.
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Stillwater and the Simian HateSquad*
These oldtimer racist idiots have sunk you all. That particular Silverback is so unbelievably idiotic, apartheid minded, and plain dumb, he cannot realise that an equally impotent, crapped-out of body of the Whiteman is just as grey and Silverback.
Their feeble antique cerebral spheres struggling to recall what they were doing at 19:00hours on September the tenth.
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Or what they even did yesterday? Most of those "one-foot-in" types completely buckle emotionally at the thought of such destruction as the D-Day.
He probably didn't even loose any direct family.
That's not the issue. It's those images everyone witnessed. All around the world.
The psychologically decimated Silverback will be two things at all times. For example, while begging the GLOBE for relief, they desire the closing-down of the international dot BS internet.
Foreigners .... OUT. FOREIGN money..... IN.
WHILE STARING AT A CHALLENGE THAT HAS TOTALLY DEFEATED THEM AND SMASHED THEIR PSYCHE TO SMITHEREENS..... THEY WILL DEMAND MORE AND MORE ONLY GOOD NEWS STORIES;
.... because, whatever it is, it's not the reality outside their front door.
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Which, in Disaster Zone Countries, is opened often only once per week.
To venture outside and into the craziness they no longer understand anymore.
.... and scurry to their dancing ally ma hallajouga hosé in da haus hozeanna.
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