Jean Rony Jean-Charles pictured in Haiti. Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff
By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
JEAN RONY Jean-Charles was waiting for his friend to purchase a few cigarettes before heading to a job site when he was arrested by immigration officers in early September last year.
Despite having been born in The Bahamas, educated, and treated at hospital, he did not have any form of personal identification when he was approached and asked to prove his legal status.
At 35, Mr Jean-Charles’ case has reignited longstanding bitter debate surrounding citizenship and the entitlement of migrant children born in The Bahamas. The controversy surrounding his extended detention and later expulsion from the country has raised questions about the government’s policy and enforcement measures, and its compliance with both local and international law.
“My boy was going to work,” he told The Tribune, sitting hunched over on the tiny porch of the one-bedroom home he now shares with seven other people in Port-de-Paix, Haiti.
“He come wake me up around six to go to work with him, when I was going to work he stop in the yard (on Fire Trail Road) to get one cigarette.
“When he stop, immigration pull up in the yard, they asked me for an ID and I told them I didn’t have any ID on me at the time.
“They ask me for a travel document, I said I didn’t have it at the time, it got burned saving some people in a house, so we did done do a report for it.”
Last year’s blaze at a shantytown off Cowpen Road on March 23 displaced seven families, leaving eight adults and 20 children homeless.
“I was living through Fire Trail,” he explained, “it’s like a village but it’s a Bahamian area but the house did get burn down and all my stuff got burned. I saved them people them who was in the yard, it was me who saved them, if it wasn’t for me all of them would have died in the house.”
He was referring to a family of seven, the father of whom told The Tribune last year he awoke to his home engulfed in flames.
On that early morning in September, Mr Jean-Charles said it wasn’t his speech that prompted officers to arrest him, but his Creole-sounding name.
“So when I gave them my name,” he continued, “they say ‘oh you is a Haitian let’s go,’ and he hold me down by my neck and shirt collar and he search me, and tru’in I didn’t have nothing on me. I already gave my phone to my friend to hold. Then they carried me to the Detention Centre. I told them they can check my name in the system, they can see me in the system, they never check it.”
He said the officers had reassured him that once he got to the facility, he would be released promptly if his story checked out.
“So I wait another month, I tell a next person check it for me, he never checked. They said you going Haiti, so I just stopped worrying about it because I told them if I go Haiti how am I going to survive in Haiti? I don’t know nothing about Haiti, I never been there before, but they wasn’t listening to me. That’s how I ended up here (Haiti).”
Mr Jean-Charles’ attorney, Fred Smith, filed an application contesting the lawfulness of his detention on November 29, 2017.
However, it would later be confirmed by former Director of Immigration William Pratt that Mr Jean-Charles had been sent to Port au Prince, Haiti, on November 24 after not being able to prove he was in the country legally.
Before that revelation was made in December, his sister Clotilde Jean-Charles told The Tribune she had been attempting to see her brother for nearly three weeks – prompting her to hire an attorney.
Ms Jean-Charles said she was called by a close friend who witnessed her brother’s apprehension. However, she was unable to go to him for some days due to her work schedule and other issues. Instead, she said she sent copies of his documents – including his birth certificate and school records – to the CRDC through her friend.
“I was between work and dealing with other issues,” she said, “but I always ask for update, she told me provide this document and so I gave her everything I had. She took it in, we’re waiting, waiting, and then they said oh they will release him, but the next time they said they couldn’t find anything we gave.”
She continued: “So I had to go do everything all over, get another birth certificate, another school letter. They got the birth certificate, my late mom passport and old work permit, hoping and thinking they would look into it, but nothing came out of it.”
Ms Jean-Charles and her four brothers, one of whom is now deceased, were raised by their Haitian mother, who worked legally as a maid on a work permit, The Tribune was told.
Ms Jean-Charles is the only sibling who holds a Bahamian passport.
“At the time, all of us was young,” she explained.
“Since I’m the oldest, I was the one that ended up getting my stuff sorted out. At that time they (brothers) must be didn’t see the necessity of it. My younger brother who is 30 now is trying to fight to get his stuff out the way. It’s just getting more and more complicated now that she’s (mother) not here. I was in my early 20s (when I got a passport), I applied when I was 18, and now everything change and it’s like more complication – when it was my time it was much easier. Now they coming with different stuff you have to get, and a lot of these things cost money.”
The family matriarch, Laitilde Jean-Charles, took sick and died in 2012 at 55.
Ms Jean-Charles says her National Insurance records indicated she was only short by three of four contributions. Despite not having applied for citizenship, she said her brothers had obtained several travel documents over the years despite never travelling. The issuance of those certificates of identity were discontinued by the previous administration, and replaced with the Belonger’s permit and an updated policy in November 2014.
Ms Jean-Charles told The Tribune yesterday she was elated to see photos of her brother, giving her something more tangible than just his voice over the phone.
“Right now, I’m excited, I’m happy because even though he’s in a different place it’s best to be alive. I was thrilled when I spoke to him for the first time and I was even more thrilled when I went to work this (Monday) morning and I pick up the paper and I saw that he was on the front page.”
Ms Jean-Charles said: “I’m praying that they find a way for him to return back because this is all he knows. This is truly home and I don’t know how it will be for us, we here and him to be over there. It would really feel awkward. He ain’t even that fluent in the Creole. Out of all of us, I’m the only one that has a passport everyone had an issue.”
According to his attorney, Mr Jean-Charles went to Albury Sayles Primary, T G Glover Primary, S C McPherson Junior High, and C V Bethel Senior School. He was hospitalised several years ago for blood poisoning, he said, which left him with recurring episodes of numbness in his legs.
To find Mr Jean-Charles, The Tribune and attorney Fred Smith travelled to the northern city of Cap-Haitian, and then chartered a plane into Port-de-Paix. The four-seater charter touched down on a dirt strip populated by cars, dirt bikes, donkeys and pedestrians – all unfazed by the aircraft’s descent.
When his lawyer made contact, Mr Jean-Charles made no indication of who he was and seemed unmoved by the group’s enthusiasm to have finally located him.
He later told The Tribune he had long resigned himself as forgotten by his family.
He said his experience at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre was unremarkable from the scores of stories already told by former detainees, with living conditions fluctuating based on the volume of migrants and the whims of guards.
“At the detention centre, I was s in a toilet,” he said, slowly curling his lips into a wry smile.
It was the first of only a handful of instances that Mr Jean-Charles showed any emotion during the visit. Although he is no longer detained, he told The Tribune he remains imprisoned mentally, unable to reconcile with the shock of his sudden transplant into abject poverty.
Mr Jean-Charles said he has not used indoor plumbing since he left New Providence on a plane to Port au Prince, just one of many “luxuries” he has gained a heavy appreciation for due to severe lack.
As his plane taxied out of The Bahamas, he asked an officer to use the bathroom and was refused. Unable to hold his urine for the duration of the trip, he urinated on himself.
It would be the first in a seemingly never-ending stream of physical and emotional degradation – part culture shock and part trauma.
“I don’t know why they deport me, two to one they probably don’t know the reason why they deport me. When I was in the Detention Centre, I told them, I say check my date of birth, December 5, 1982, I know I ain’ supposed to be here (in the Detention Centre)..
“But they don’t check and it’s wrong. You supposed to check the person background. I’m not gonna lie, I been to jail before, and when I did my time, I was out, they released me to the gate. One stupid detention centre can’t check? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Mr Jean-Charles was arrested for possession of a marijuana joint when he was 16. He was fined and sentenced to one month in prison.
“One Monday morning, Monday morning,” he said, again recalling the day of his arrest by Immigration. During the visit, he often returned to this memory as if still struggling to reconcile with his circumstances.
“I was chilling, I just chilling, my phone on the side of me, just finish talking to my brethren about work. I like work, I like doing for myself and having my own things. We just stopped for dollar worth of cigarettes, I see the immigration gone to my brethren getting off on him. “Then they come to me and I give them my name and my date of birth. They didn’t even check, they say when we reach the Detention Centre they gonna sort everything.
“So I wait, and I wait, they cost me to lose my job, and now I’m in Haiti suffering. Like the prime minister say carry all the Haitians, all the Haitians gotta go back to Haiti, but I’m not Haitian. I don’t even know where I’m at.”
Comments
proudloudandfnm 6 years, 3 months ago
So when is the government going to fly this poor man back to his home? And will the officers who arrested him be fired or punished?
These immigration officers need to learn how to enforce actual law and stop being power hungry thugs.
My2centz 6 years, 3 months ago
How do we know that this man was born in the Bahamas? Because he said so? This is exactly why so much fraud exists within this department.
We are hearing his version of events which may differ drastically from the truth. His sister admitted he did not secure his status because it was not important. I would like to hear what immigration did or did not do to validate his claim before casting this man as a victim. Despite what people say, the records office is not the cluster it's made out to be.
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 3 months ago
We can be rest assured there's much more to this story than what's been told here by The Tribune and Mr. Jean-Charles.
CatIslandBoy 6 years, 3 months ago
This is a very sad story, and an even more sad indictment against the Immigration, and the Bahamas Government. I cannot believe that we find it so difficult to set aside our emotions and deal with this community in manner consistent with the laws, human rights conventions established by the United Nation, and basic human decency. Of course we must do a better job of enforcing our borders, detecting and expelling those who are in the country illegally. However, we cannot trash our constitution as we trample on the human rights of those who were born in this country.
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
Birth is not a right to citizenship. . .THAT IS THE BAHAMAS CONSTITUTION!
So what HR law we are ignoring. . .which one? You are making no sense. . .and stop leading those poor people to believe that they are entitled to citizenship just by being born here. . .and further more, the Constitution allows only one year for those who are entitled. . .Mr. Jean is 35 year old. . .which is CONSTITUTIONALLY TOO LATE!
Cas0072 6 years, 3 months ago
If you are entitled to the right to apply for citizenship on a loophole, you are also entitled to lose that right when you don't comply with the terms which is that you apply before the age of 19. The sister said it herself, "At that time they (brothers) must be didn’t see the necessity of it."
It is not the job of immigration officers to vet the scraps of documents that he managed to produce when the law is quite clear. Children of foreigners must obtain and relinquish their foreigners passports for a Bahamian one. Deporting a 35 year old man who could not be bothered to apply for citizenship in accordance of the law is a good place to start. These people will not respect the law until it is seriously enforced.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 3 months ago
There must be a biometrics system created to trace these Haitians ........ too much forgery and corruption ...... You deport them now and they back tomorrow ....... wasting our tax dollars. The Haitian Government must be held accountable for their citizens ....... not our Government.
John 6 years, 3 months ago
This whole immigration fiasco is confusing. On the one hand the government is making it easier for some people to come here and start to work even before they get a work permit. On the other hand some who are born here are being deported or not being regularised. In the US a doctor who spent 40 years in the US was deported to Poland. Leaving wife children and grandchildren behind The birth place of his parents but somewhere unfamiliar to him. He held permanent residency in the US . But he committed a crime and his residency was revoked. And as Donald Trump admits the US will need additional immigrant workers in the near future, Haiti has been added to the list that no immigrants will be accepted from.
johnmcntsh 6 years, 3 months ago
Just to clear up any confusion, Dr. Niece was not deported. He is in Immigration detention and can file for a "cancellation of removal" which I believe has already been filed. He is still in the US.
thephoenix562 6 years, 3 months ago
While i feel for the young man he simply didnt comply with the law .His sister did,she has Bahamian Citizenship.Immigration did nothing wrong in my opinion.
Check this out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9pAd...">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9pAd...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTS4v...">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTS4v...
TalRussell 6 years, 3 months ago
Ma Comrade Bradda, you also need feel for way our policeman's does treat our own voiceless poor and not so booked-learned once they get in da belly policeman's custody. It now appears this young man's although having his struggles led an law abiding lifestyle for his 35 years. Let's give a hand-up to this young man's.
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
TAL CAN YOU OR HIS FAMILY PROVE THAT HE WAS BORN HERE? Even if he was born here and was picked up by Immigration at age 35 and he did not bother to apply at 18. . .which his sister did (they knew the rule). . .he is illegal without any constitutional redress. . .which no court can override! He will not be brought back. . .he has no basis in law to appeal to. . .according to our constitution, he is not a Bahamian. . .he has no right to Bahamian constitutional protection. . . she only protects her citizen and any others who are within her borders. If Mr. Smith brings him back he will be thrown into jail for human smuggling. . .THE UN AND INTERNATIONAL LAW ARE ONLY CONCERN WITH LAWS. . .THAT'S WHY NONE OF THEM HAVE AND WILL NEVER SANCTION THE BAHAMAS FOR HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REMOVAL PROCESS. THE UN NOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RECOGNIZE ECONOMIC REFUGEES. . .THEREFORE NO HR GROUP WILL SANCTION THE BAHAMAS IN THE HAITIAN PROBLEM. NONE OF THEM WILL BE SEEN TO BE :PUSHING" THE BAHAMAS TO DO SOMETHING THAT THEIR OWN NATIONS WILL NEVER DO. . .INCLUDING HAITI!!
BahamaPundit 6 years, 3 months ago
The answer is easy. Poor countries need to drastically decrease the babies they produce. No matter what race, any group of people that produces babies like rabbits without a hope of supporting them and sustaining them will be abhored by the global community. Period. Not making it about race and make it about personal responsibility. Baby making machines without financing those babies are nothing but a type of social terrorism. We need to stop giving excuses to this type of intentional biological invasion and violence against societies big and small.
Aegeaon 6 years, 3 months ago
Again. This is NO invasion, stop the victim card already.
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
What do you call a cross border flood of illegal human bodies of one country into the geographical space of another country? An INVASION. . .go google the word invasion.
TalRussell 6 years, 3 months ago
Ma Comrade Braddas, the PM must know the people need to feel they can trust his red government and he can begin by releasing to the media the full chronological order of the deportation process concerning Jean Rony - including all documentation of his arrest and detention.... along with the name and position of the individual whom requested and signed the deportation authorization. Did Jean Rony, ever appear in front of a Judge? Why wasn't he allowed communicate his family member? If but only a tenth of what Jean Rony is recalling actually happened to him - the PM should swiftly kick some asses at the detention center and atop Hawkins Hill. The PM must know the detention center was never authorized by the House of Assembly - therefore, it is an ILLEGAL OPERATION? IT IS SO ILLEGAL THAT IF AN DETAINEE ESCAPED HE/SHE CANNOT BE CONVICTED BY A JUDGE FOR ESCAPING... am I right, Mr. PM?
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
You need to stop trying to think or attempting to lie. . .there are no laws establishing police stations, hospitals, etc or patrol cars. . .the key is being in custody. . .no matter where they hold. . .even in ya house. . .the person who runs away from the authority will be charge with escape of legal custody!! Why do you think the courts have in the past told immigration to bring people to court out of the center. . .and for all the ruckus raised by Mr. Smith the center is still used for housing illegals? You argument don't hold any water. . .
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
Just bring him home and clean this crap up so this does not happen again. It's clear to me he is Bahamian. Fix the constitution, start an education campaign here and in Haiti that birth does not grant you citizenship.
joeblow 6 years, 3 months ago
The constitution is not the problem, what it doesn't cover the Immigration Act does. There is no confusion here other than what the QC is creating!
My2centz 6 years, 3 months ago
It's clear that he is not Bahamian. The law has no remedy for persons born to foreign parents who have not applied by 19. So legally, he is where he's supposed to be. Immigration did their job and will now be reluctant going forward because of emotional reactions like yours.
No one should baby this adult. He, his family and lawyers need to work it out legally. Mr. Rony himself did not feel that regularizing his status was necessary because too many times this law has been bent to accommodate people who feel the way he does. This should be a wake up call to all in his position to get themselves straight.
thephoenix562 6 years, 3 months ago
Yes there is a remedy in law he goes to the back of the line and applies,
My2centz 6 years, 3 months ago
His entitlement window to apply ended 16 years ago. This should no longer be a valid legal argument for citizenship for him. He scoffed at the opportunity for full participation in the country he was allegedly born in. At this point, if it's proven, he should only be granted permanent residency.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
Yeah, I'm not arguing whether he was born to Haitian parents who were here illegally. He identifies as "Bahamian", not someone who is just here to make money or escaping a worse fate, he identifies as 242. That is clear to me. And I don't think he made up the story about saving the family. He could be my brother. Just bring him home and clean up this mess that's been kicked around for 45 years
My2centz 6 years, 3 months ago
Identifying as Bahamian does not make one a Bahamian. There is a legal process that this adult needed to follow but didn't. His situation has now prompted his brother to start the process of regularisation and who knows how many others. He created the mess he's in and it's up to him, his family and lawyer to bring him "home". Until the laws a changed, immigration is not to blame for this and there is nothing further for them to do.
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
Listen to yaself. . .it is clear to you that he is Bahamian? Bring him HOME AND FIX THE CONSTITUTION? Why would we have to fix the constitution. . .he is 35 years old. . .the constitution says 18 to 19. . .why must that be changed? Because one Haitian man says he was born in the Bahamas and refused to follow the constitutional requirement for citizenship. . .got himself deported. . .and now has no constitutional ground to be brought back to this country. . .now you say educate them here and in their country that law is law? You talk like Haitians are idiots. . .they know the rules. . . until we enforce them they will continue to play the fool and do fool. . .things that we can't get away with in our or their country!
Our new rules about children born to Bahamian woman overseas and citizenship. . .it is no retroactive. . .all those who are not within the parameter of the new law. . .even though they are born to Bahamian mothers, they will not become citizens! HE CANNOT BE BROUGHT BACK TO THE BAHAMAS. . .HE WAS HERE ILLEGALLY. . .MANY MORE WILL FIND THEMSELVES IN THIS SITUATION IF PICKED-UP. . .THEY ARE NOT BAHAMIANS AND ARE ILLEGALS!
birdiestrachan 6 years, 3 months ago
It is amazing how some believe what The outspoken QC and the other Master full liars have to say. Now the QC and his family and the Haitian embassy knew where he was all the time. The Drama King is at it again. When illegals leave Haiti they come to a place they do not know. This man seems to have different names.
When Gibson cousin was in jail in Haiti and died there How is it that he and the QC never went to look for him with their human rights and all. This story is full of holes. only the blind can not see. the twisting and the lies.
TalRussell 6 years, 3 months ago
Ma Comrade Braddas, easily recognizable are the same tone posts to these hereto Tribune blog pages signalling that poor woman's shouldn't have babies until they are well in a good financial position to support raising them..... but when you're poor that time will never come for the majority poor woman's... and we're talking both Bahamalanders and Haitians... and this fact is supported by minister finance KP's admission that his Imperial red cabinet have been inept at creating new jobs since coming office on May 10, 2017. If we are to believe the minister - it means his government has 'fired' 2,500 government workers since coming to power but 8 months back. Jean Rony is solid proof of a colonial system failing its poor and near poor people... the very same colonial system that has turned poor politicians into millionaires. ..... or so we're left believe from reading the politicians financial disclosures.... some who you same bloggers now says their poor mothers should never have given birth to? So, even the score by awarding Jean Rony a million dollars to rise him up millionaire status.
Amen!
birdiestrachan 6 years, 3 months ago
There are millions of people in Haiti. The Drama King knew exactly where to find this man. scripture says "What is done in darkness will come to light:
joeblow 6 years, 3 months ago
Whenever you consistently get one side of a story it is most likely propaganda!
TalRussell 6 years, 3 months ago
Ma Comrade Bradda My2Centz, coldly says Jean Rony's entitlement window to apply citizenship ended 16 years ago.... but what if the Minnis administration offered Haitians a blanket amnesty backed by a public media and town hall program?
My2centz 6 years, 3 months ago
The law says that. But when has that stopped officials, or in this case Jean Rony, from doing their own thing? Because we don't agree with a particular law, doesn't mean it should be broken. We can't be hypocrites and complain when immigration doesn't follow the law. And still complain when they do because someone has broken the law.
TalRussell 6 years, 3 months ago
Ma Comrade, then why not call to enforce the law on the books for MP's who haven't filed their outstanding financial disclosures - although PM Minnis's own deadline of June 30, 2017, has long come and gone. Punishment includes up to 2 years imprisonment. MP's, Senators who have not filed should not be collecting pay from the public purse and their passports should be revoked. Isn't the PM condoning the hiring of known law breakers for government positions?
My2centz 6 years, 3 months ago
I'm not selective about which laws to follow. And I don't believe anyone is exempt from the law. This situation only happened because slackness with regard to immigration laws. So many parade around without consequence that Jean Rony saw no need to regularise himself. And when the law catches up to him, we condemn the immigration department instead. And portray this grown man as a victim.
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
They cannot do it. . .that requirement is enshrined in the constitution and only the people in a referendum can change that. . . any amnesty put forth by government must come through HOA and passed into legislation must meet the constitutional test. . . Article 1 says that NO LAW SHALL SUPERSEDE THE CONSTITUTION! Many persons that are here and are duped by persons like FS and Lubby Georges who seem not to know our laws or don't care what they say. . .deceive the ignorant illegals into believing that birth equals citizenship when they know they are wrong!!
bogart 6 years, 3 months ago
Stop the jokin on blanket amnesty pls. Haiti has 12 million population sitting some 30 miles from our southern border and the stories done mention there are others in Haiti who are in s similar Rony Jean position and Mariel boat exodus would be a joke.
2013 International report on trafficking and illegals estimated ip to 50,000 illegals. DNA in first campaign indocated some 100,000. With a population of 375,000 some 13% to 26% of our unofficial population illegals VERSUS the United States with some estimated 11.4 million illegals some 3% of its population. Turks has a similar situation as the Bahamas.
If the United States the most powerful country a melting pot of diverse celebrations have a problem with 3% illegals - border wall, govt TRILLION DOLLAR SHUTDOWN, changing rules etc and The Bahamas with a poorer evonomy, distinct majority cultural group- best junkanoo in the world, official english language with 13% to 26% illegals then its obvious who really has the bigger challenge.
PLs dont do there wid any talk of amnesty because we no parle creole cept 'vin parlo' ?(dey comin - used when Immigration shows up in the neighbourhood)
TalRussell 6 years, 3 months ago
Ma Comrade, blanket no jokin around chronological in order from the very day Jean Rony mommy gave birth to him at PMH which is well certified as a true fact - throughout his well established schooling years to being imprisoned at age 16 for smokin a joint -then continuous work history up age 35 - its not fair you compare Jean Rony to just another of the 12 million Haitians still in Haiti. I say in this particular case the evidence is solid that he is as Bahamalander qualified as the PM is, or the director immigration. I vote give this young man a good shot at being a citizen.
BigSlick 6 years, 3 months ago
Its refreshing i actually agree with a lot of your comments lately Tal!
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
You have a constitutional problem there. . .even if you can prove that was born in PMH. . .like with his sister who took the time to follow the rule. . .he decided to ignore that constitutional rule. No court can effect his situation. . .he is not Bahamian. . .the government cannot take a Haitian citizen out of Haiti and bring him to Bahamas. . .Bahamian courts have no jurisdiction in Haiti. . .our constitution protects no other nation citizens who are not within our borders!
birdiestrachan 6 years, 3 months ago
Why did the outspoken QC. and his family pretend not to know where he was. and why did the Haitian Embassy not have a record of him being sent to Haiti.? This is a very wicked story.
My concern is with Mr: William Pratt. He was put in a very bad light and removed from his post. When persons claim they have made undisclosed donation to political parties. I guess they run things or so it seems.
DEDDIE 6 years, 3 months ago
There is enough blame to go around but Jean Rony should have been more responsible. To address some of the comment made above, this is a gray area for our constitution. The remedy that has been applied over the years is to allow these individuals to apply even after their 18th birthday and eventually grant them Bahamian citizenship. Some of the comments same to indicate that he is Haitian. The Haitian constitution requires him to be native born and also for him to be Haitian the requirement is that he register at the nearest Haitian embassy. That most likely never occur thus his statelessness. If Haiti was proactive it can actually refuse to accept individuals like Rony Jean.
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
Go to the UN site and find out what is statelessness. . .Haitians are not seen as stateless. . .Article 11 or Haitian constitution 2004 allows for all persons born to Haitian parents inside or outside of Haiti are their citizens. . .why do you think that Haitian authorities "took" Mr. Jean from us. . .give him money and sent him inland. . .did not deport him back to the Bahamas. . .he is Haitian! The old constitution would have made him Haitian. . .his parents were Haitians! Now under the old Constitution his children would have had problems if they wanted to return to Haiti... but Haiti know that they have no choice in the matter of taking him back. . .he is their citizen and not a Bahamian!
bogart 6 years, 3 months ago
'....but what if the Minnis administrayion offered Haitians a blanket amnesty...' versus '...in this particular case the evidence is solid' according to your views. Now dis particular case I has no problem with that a thorough investigation be done in dis particular case and the chips fall where they fall. Now on the comparison of JeanRomy smoking pot at age 16 and sent to jail being or is as Bahamalander qualified as the PM is, or the director immigration. Well what is Bahamalander? You are very good here Tal as you have now raised a very interesting point on Criminal Record, which lrads to different crimes as it related to Citizendhip Applications...?
lucaya 6 years, 3 months ago
The Country he is in that is where he belongs, he was easily found and his lawyer and the tribune is doing a sloppy one sided story. There are countless persons that where able to enjoy the same privaledge as I do, to work and accomplish many things in this Country. The tribune tends to be one sided, for the "down trodden" and less focused on independent fact finding journalism, it does not pay well to do so.
Emac 6 years, 3 months ago
Thank you lucaya!
birdiestrachan 6 years, 3 months ago
it seems as if the QC. the Family and the Haitian embassy were all on the same page on this one They all tried to dirty up the Bahamas by pretending as if this man was lost while they knew exactly where he was.
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