SOME of the Haitian migrants detained recently by the RBDF.
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe, QC, yesterday expressed confidence in local law enforcement agencies’ capability to protect the country’s borders against any influx of Haitian sloops after hundreds of migrants were recently apprehended in Bahamian territory.
“As National Security Minister, I have purview over the defence force and the police force,” Mr Munroe said.
“I don’t run the defence force and the police force. We have very competent police officers and marines and officers doing that. There’s cooperation between multilateral agencies down in the southern Bahamas and off the southern Bahamas,” he told reporters when asked about his ministry’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
“The US Coast Guard has patrol craft out there and aircraft. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force has patrol craft out there and aircraft and recently, the Royal Bahamas Police Force safe boat was involved in migrant interdiction.”
Since Wednesday, more than 900 Haitians have been taken into custody from Bahamian waters in separate incidents.
The majority of those nationals are being housed in Inagua, while others have been sent to New Providence for further processing.
It is expected the group will be returned to their home country by the end of the week, according to Immigration Minister Keith Bell, who said repatriation exercises could begin as early as today.
The uptick in illegal migration to The Bahamas comes as civil unrest and political turmoil continues to mount in Haiti following last month’s devastating earthquake and the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise in July.
Yesterday, Mr Munroe called the current crisis in Haiti “unfortunate” and said due to worsening conditions there, it is likely more migrants will travel to The Bahamas in the days ahead.
“It is an unfortunate situation in Haiti that causes Haitians to wish to migrate to other countries. We have seen them doing it to the US through Central America and Mexico of all places. We can expect that until Haiti is fixed, it will continue and our efforts must be to interdict illegal migrants, to process them quickly and then to return them to their home country,” he said.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force said more than 400 migrants were detained Sunday after their vessel sank in the Ragged Island chain. A further 144 Haitians were also picked up in Bahamian waters on Sunday, according to Mr Bell.
On Saturday, 195 Haitian migrants were apprehended in two separate incidents.
On Saturday morning, a sloop carrying 50 Haitians was intercepted off Inagua. Later in the day, a sloop was spotted in the Ragged Island chain. Marines aboard an RBDF ship discovered 145 migrants on board.
The RBDF said on Thursday evening, while on the way to Inagua with a group of 70 migrants, who were apprehended earlier in the day, marines aboard HMBS Bahamas spotted another sloop just five miles west of Inagua with 151 Haitians on board.
On Wednesday, authorities apprehended 86 Haitian migrants off Inagua.
According to officials, a number of tests have since been conducted on apprehended migrants for the detection of COVID-19 and other diseases but none of the results so far has created any cause for concern.
“There is among the group, we know that there was some dehydration and one or two other aspects that we’re dealing with what is usually the case when they come across on these long voyages with these crammed vessels and they’re coming from parts of Haiti but we have not come across any case to date that warrants extreme concern that there is COVID among them,” Mr Bell told reporters at a press conference on Monday.
Comments
licks2 3 years, 2 months ago
He is young yet in his job. . .he has the potential to be good at this job. . .lets wait a "lil" bit more!!
SP 3 years, 2 months ago
The clown is a QC! He should know better than to make an unsubstantiated public statement.
TalRussell 3 years, 2 months ago
Hello! My name is Dionisio "Over-promising & (Under Handling)" James D'Aguilar and I'm Addicted and stuff like that to the trappins' of a man's, we 37, all addressed as, THEE Most Honourable PM.
I'm in recovery, being the very first and only sittin' member of the House for Montagu, ever to have been constituents canned. And canned me after just my 1590th day as Montagu's Red MP, and stuff like that, – Yes?
WETHEPEOPLE 3 years, 2 months ago
Invasion, seriously? Im not saying the haitian migration or attempt of such isnt a problem, but lets be mindful of our choice of words. Invasion makes the situation seem narfarious, and that it is not. Its a matter of desperation. Ive read your comments before and i take you for an educated person. So lets keep it 100, and try not to encite the usual bs. That day is over with.
tribanon 3 years, 2 months ago
It's an outright invasion by every definition of the word no matter how much lipstick you wish to see put on it. In fact, the Oxford Dictionary defines the word "invasion" as "an unwelcomed intrusion into another's domain".
pacormier 3 years, 2 months ago
They were sailing to Florida, not the Bahamas. Do you really understand the current situation in Haiti?
tribanon 3 years, 2 months ago
Yes, but you certainly don't seem to understand the current situation in our Bahamaland. Are you even aware that as fast as the US Coast Guard intercepts these illegal Haitian immigrants in our territorial waters, they are dumped on our small nation? I can't help but wonder if you're of Haitian heritage.
bahamianson 3 years, 2 months ago
So, we can handle the influx of 11,000,000 people?
tribanon 3 years, 2 months ago
@pacormier above certainly thinks we have room in our small Bahamaland for all 11+ million of them.
SP 3 years, 2 months ago
@ WETHEPEOPLE....Yes, it is an INVASION which is defined as "an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity". Sounds like what illegal Haitians do to me!
Why wouldn't a "threat to national security" not be an invasion? You spelled the word incorrectly, but why wouldn't entering the Bahamas illegally not be nefarious which is defined as "wicked or criminal" acts.
I can understand your loyalty to the PLP, but we can actually read as well as you, so please don't insult our intelligence with your misleading horseshyt!
tribanon 3 years, 2 months ago
@WETHEPEOPLE is obviously short for @WETHEHAITIANPEOPLE.
pacormier 3 years, 2 months ago
The Haitians are trying to sail to Florida. It was the Bahamian Defence Force that apprehended them. They have no navigation equipment and are not aware of the international navigation rules. The Cubans intercepted them for getting too close to that country, so they adjusted their course to the East. That course took them too close to the Bahamas chain of islands. They had no intention of going to the Bahamas. I hope everyone understands that Haiti is a Stateless country right now and Haiti's neighbors, including the U.S., are doing nothing to stop the corruption and gang warfare that is going on there, currently. Haiti needs our help. Please don't blame the innocent Haitians who are trying to flee this situation by risking their lives to sail to Florida.
tribanon 3 years, 2 months ago
Most Bahamians are frankly sick and tired of people like you who continue to feel a great personal need to loudly sing about the need for us to be humane at a time when the ongoing flood of illegal Haitian immigrants poses an imminent existential national security threat to our small nation.
I suppose you would somehow think it humane if the Bahamian people simply sat back and allowed themselves to be annihiliated in their own Bahamaland.
ScubaSteve 3 years, 2 months ago
Ooooooooooh... Haitians are soooooo SCARY. Oooooooooh... Haitians are sooooo DIRTY and EVIL. They wish to take over the Bahamas. Ohhhhh my... I'm so scared and worried. NOT.
They only want the exact same things as we do -- a home to live in, go to school & learn, access to food & water, work & earn some money, and live in happiness. Their homeland is so corrupt, dangerous, & offers no sense of security, that they are willing to risk their lives and their children's lives to get on an overcrowded boat and set off to sea where they very easily could die.
It would be noble and courageous if our country was in a better position to provide for them all the things they are seeking. But to treat them as if they are inferior to us or below us -- is certainly not Christian like and is morally corrupt. Just imagine if the situation was reversed.
tribanon 3 years, 2 months ago
You hit the nail on the head @ScubaSteve when you said: "Their homeland is so corrupt, dangerous, & offers no sense of security, that they are willing to risk their lives and their children's lives to get on an overcrowded boat and set off to sea where they very easily could die." You just need to appreciate that what they've done to their country is exactly what they're in the process of doing to our own very much smaller Bahamaland. We simply cannot absorb anymore illegal Haitian immigrants, period! And if you happen to be of Haitian heritage and find my view offensive, then that's your problem, certainly not mine.
ScubaSteve 3 years, 2 months ago
If they are coming here to work, be productive citizens, pay their share of taxes, and follow the laws of the land -- then I have ZERO issues with them. In fact, I might even be willing to swap them with many, many Bahamian citizens who drop out of school prematurely, aren't productive citizens, don't pay their share of taxes, and don't follow our laws.
tribanon 3 years, 2 months ago
You sound very much like an Abaconian who has enjoyed exploiting cheap illegal Haitian immigrant labour for decades now. And, if that's the case, you and so many others like you in Abaco have only served to exacerbate the massive illegal Haitian immigrant problem our small nation is facing today. Suggest you start paying Bahamians a decent day's pay for a fair day's work before you yourself find it necessary to flee your own country.
benniesun 3 years, 2 months ago
@ScubaSteve - Imagine that we had sufficient ships to blockade our southern waters. Imagine that we had a surplus of billions of dollars to give to the Haitians. The facts are that we do not have those things and the cold fact is we are not in their situation - we are in our situation which has to be protected from them. The Haitians are not inferior, but their numbers are far superior. The Bahamas is living off borrowed reserves, which have to be repaid by us. Essentially, you are saying that we must mortgage the Bahamas to take care of the Haitian invaders. I guess that is your Christian thing to do... The rest of us prefer self preservation for ourselves and our offspring.
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