12159: Nassau Guardian Commentary on Haitian Immigrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Daniel Schweissing <dan_schweissing@hotmail.com>

Commentary
The Bahamas, what's wrong

Released Friday, May 24, 2002 at 11:01 am EST by transporter


The Bahamas, what's wrong with it?


Part #I

Now that the election is over, I would like to see what the government is
going to do about the illegal immigration problem that this country is
facing.

Our immigration problem is out of control and is going to be one of the
problems that destroy the Bahamas. The Bahamas is a small country and
whether we want to address this issue or not, it is already over populated
by Bahamians alone notwithstanding our ever growing illegal immigration
population.

My question to the Bahamian Government, Immigration Department and the
Department of Statistics, is when was the last time or has there ever been a
census conducted on the illegal immigrant population in the Bahamas and do
we know anything about the immigrants who now call the Bahamas home and seek
to illegally or other wise bring their families here. Any criminal
background, do we have any idea who is coming into our country? There was
once a misconception about Haitians being a peaceful, humble people, but
that was because we were not very familiar with them, they were here
illegally and did not want to be repatriated. But now that their numbers
have grown and have established residence, we are seeing that they are no
different from us and we don't like it.

Haiti is a country populated by millions of people that appear to have no
knowledge of family planning or birth control, and they are coming hear in
droves with this same mentality. What makes this even worse, Haitian
immigrants, once they arrive in the Bahamas, they are having children as a
way to establish a form of residency or time line indicating how long they
were in the country this is why we see so many Haitian pregnant. After they
would have accomplished this initial goal, they send for the rest of their
children or family that is setting a serious precedent that is continuing to
create a strain on our resources. If we do nothing about this, Bahamians,
will quickly become the minority in the Bahamas. South Florida is a perfect
example of what happens when a government is not serious about its
immigration policies, and that has happened within fifty years. Without
attempting to appear prejudices, Cubans are going to Miami with something to
offer the country in the form of education and training. However, Haitians
are only draining our limited resource.

Illegal immigrants and Haitians in particular are committing the ultimate
act of terrorism on this country. They by illegal means enter our country,
plunder our resources and establish a pipeline through which to smuggle more
illegal immigrants into the country. But amazingly, they can use our medical
facilities, have children and register them in school obtain drivers licence
etc.,., under the noses of the Bahamian people and the government while
violating our constitution.

The Bahamian Government spend millions of dollars a year, housing feeding
and repatriating illegal immigrants, "Haitians" in particular who are
captured attempting to enter our country illegally and seemingly, does
nothing about the ones who are already here.

It's obvious that something is not working and the Government needs to
revisit their immigration policies. There are millions of Haitians in Haiti
and it's obvious that if given the opportunity they would all come here as
they are attempting to do now. We may not be able to stop them from leaving
their country, but have we ever thought about why Haitians appear to have
Bahamas as their first and main destination and return even after being
repatriated. Think about it, there are probably as much Cubans leaving Cuba
as Haitians leaving Haiti but we don't have a Cuban problem. Why? Cubans
have their families in Miami, the population is predominantly Hispanic, it's
easier for them to make a living there and the immigration policies provides
that, once a Cuban touches American soil they can seek asylum, which makes
them more aggressive in their attempts to achieve this goal as we have seen
on American news footage from Miami, so, they are not desirous in coming to
the Bahamas.

However, Haitians, know with the large Haitian population in the Bahamas,
they can easily integrate into our society. They also know that, there are
Bahamians in every sector of our society who can be bought, persons, who if
the price were right, would do or sell anything, from the lowest Indian to
the biggest chief. Bahamians are also very complacent, with a do nothing
attitude and love cheap labour, which makes it easy for Haitians to make a
living here. This is why Haitians even after being repatriated, as soon as
the next available opportunity arise, they return. Moreover, Haitians who
come here are sending messages to family and friends home telling them about
the things they have obtain since coming here and that the Bahamas is the
land of opportunity. They are sending money home in order facilitate their
families illegal migration to the Bahamas.

It appears as though no one knows what to do about the illegal immigration
problem this country is facing; I've even heard suggestions about
contracting labour to Haitian immigrants in the agriculture industry. This
would further set a dangerous precedent which would only encourage illegal
migration, because those who cannot wait to be contracted would attempt to
come here illegally.

Let's be realistic, it's because illegal immigrants are able to make a
living in this country that they are coming here in the first place. We
cannot stop illegal immigrants from leaving their country, but we can stop
them from targeting the Bahamas as a destination. The only way this can be
done is by making it impossible for them to make a living in this country.
If they know that if they attempt to seek employment, buy grocery, use our
medical facilities, schools, or obtain documents through unscrupulous
Bahamians, that they would be detained arrested and repatriated, a message
would undoubtedly be sent that the Bahamas is serious about it immigration
policies leaving them to seek an alternative destination.

If any one has ever noticed that when Immigration in conjunction with the
Defence Force is carrying out round up exercises through out the
neighbourhoods of New Providence, and conducting random stops and searches
of buses and trucks on their way to construction sites. Illegal immigrants
stay of the streets and go into hiding and there are no reports of Haitian
vessels caught in Bahamian waters or coming ashore in the Bahamas. This is
because they are in constant contact with these vessels from the time they
leave Haiti to the time they arrive in the Bahamas.

If our government conducts a serious and constant round up of illegal
immigrants in this country including white foreigners expatriate who often
go unnoticed, over staying their time, Bahamians would be surprise of the
amount of jobs that would become available.

The events of September 11th 2001 should serve as a reminder that the
Bahamas is only one disaster away from total financial break down so we
cannot afford to play games with immigration and allow illegal immigrants to
drain our limited resources.

N. Davis.

Copyright (c) 2001 by Nassau Guardian


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