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REMARKS
BY THE HON.
FRED MITCHELL MP
MINISTER
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The New
Life Christian Centre
Prince Charles Drive
Rev. Betty Cleare
Passover
Reformation issues concerning legal and illegal immigrants in The
Bahamas.
27th April 2005
My
friends it is good to be here with you this evening to address this
timely topic. While it is
rather complexly worded, I think that it is designed to get at something
fairly simple. This is the
question of illegal immigration, immigration generally and its impact on
Bahamian society. It seems that everywhere we go, the question is being
asked: what are we going to do about these illegal immigrants?
The present approach to public policy on this issue is not a new
one. If you read Dawn
Marshall’s book The Haitian Problem written in 1977, you will find
that since at least the 1950s it has been the policy of successive
Bahamian governments to engage what I call the policy of round up and
repatriations. Typically,
these round ups and repatriations come when there is pressure from the
electorate to act against illegals.
In this context illegals usually means Haitians. There is now an
increasing emphasis on Jamaicans and
to a lesser extent Cubans. But
the full wrath of public ire is reserved for the Haitians so much so
that the words “illegal immigrant” have come to be used
interchangeably for the word Haitian.
We are in one such cycle now.
The public has demanded and the Government has responded with the
iron fist of round ups and repatriations.
It is a policy that typically cannot be sustained over the long
term. The country simply
does not have the resources, that is the manpower
to sustain such an assault.
There are only so many women and men in the Immigration , Police
and Defence Force. There are only so many 12 hour shifts that you can
mandate before people simply begin to tire.
But there is something even more insidious at work, that is the
will of the Bahamian people to deal with the issue often comes into
question. What the
observers argue is that typically there is a build up pressure for the
removal of Haitian immigrants, usually tied to short term cycles of
unemployment at the working and labouring calls level in Bahamian
society. This is followed
by the response by the Government to crack down.
Then the other side of the divide sets in.
It typically happens this way.
The Church begins to sound the alarm to protect the rights of
migrants, their right to humane treatment and the right to property.
Often the international community responds, putting the country's
international reputation at risk. But
more directly Bahamians themselves, the persons who hire the immigrants
begin to come forward to ask for special exceptions to the policy which
causes the release of many of those who are incarcerated.
We are further challenged by the inability of successive
Governments to process expeditiously the laws of the country with regard
to citizenship. Since
the change in the law in 1973 which stripped persons born here post 1973
of a right which they would have had had they been born before 1973 of
their citizenship to this country, there has been a pile up of
applications of the persons who have to apply at their 18th
birthday and before their 19th birthday.
There are many who do not make the deadline and so lose the right
to claim citizenship.
I know of an example of a child who was born to a Jamaican mother
who was a doctor in The Bahamas at the time he was born.
She moved back to Jamaica with him where he was raised.
His 19th birthday passed without him knowing of and
therefore failing to claim the right to citizenship of The Bahamas.
In the mean time, Jamaica passed a law which requires that he
must now register and in
effect apply for Jamaican citizenship which he had previously thought he
was entitled to automatically at birth because of he took the
citizenship of his mother.
His is not a difficult case.
The more difficult cases are those who have lived here all of
their lives, who qualify, who pass the deadlines, who even make the
deadlines and complain that they cannot get a decision.
This legal discrimination which did not exist prior to1973 some
have argued has the unintentional consequence of creating further social
discrimination. You see the
pressures throughout the society of this unresolved matter.
So many things turn on that citizenship. Imagine then a person
who is 18 years old who cannot get a drivers' licence, open a bank
account, travel a freely as they would like because they do not have a
permanent identity document. In
answer to this, many Bahamians say that these migrants should embrace
the citizenship of their parents' country, namely Haiti or Jamaica as
the case may be and to which they are entitled.
The question then is, the policy of round ups and repatriations
having failed, why do we continue to pursue it as a policy? What do we
actually do about this matter? The short and cynical answer supplied by
some is that it is political, necessity to
carry out the high profile round ups and repatriations.
The political pressure is intense and the Government must be seen
to be doing something.
The public at large has great impatience for those who argue that
the solutions are more long term, delicate and nuanced.
Thus the attacks on the Minster of Foreign Affairs and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs when they talk in terms of trying to work
out solutions which will have larger impact on the migrant flows
themselves from Haiti, Cuba and other countries..
Tonight then is a valuable forum for us to discuss some ideas
about what we can and cannot do on this matter.
One thing is clear there is a lack of information on the question
of illegal migration, for example, how many are here? Where do they come
from? What is their
contribution to the economy? In
2000 when the census was last taken, it was determined that 7 per cent
of the population identified themselves as Haitian, meaning about 21,000
people. That number is
largely derided, and though a representative for the International
Organization for Migration (IOM)is hear to advise us on just such an
issue, the country remains in a statistical information deficit.
My party’s platform has pledged to improve that situation in
the Department of Statistics because so much of public policy cannot be
planned without information.
There is also clearly a need for some non partisan voices in the
country speaking to these issues in a dispassionate way. I must say that
apart from the church, I am unimpressed by the response of
the agencies of civil society to these issues.
Their response often seems just as prejudicial as the uninformed. I think in particular of the necessity for our tertiary level
institutions to join in the process of public education on these issues.
The fact is that the Bible has shown us that immigrants coming
into a country can improve the quality of life of that country.
The story of Joseph and his ascendancy to the head of Pharaohs
households is one such story. But
we also know that eventually, the population gets tired of the migrants
and seeks to identify them as scapegoats, thus the story of Israel
crossing through the Red Sea and into the promise land.
Let me say that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is committed to
helping to foster the dialogue on this issue, to engage in solutions
that are long term and have some permanence.
There is a great impatience for the
talk shop as it is often dismissed but it is important that it
only through talking and acting as result of thinking out problems that
the solutions are ultimately found.
I look forward to discussing this matter.
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