The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN Tribune Staff Reporter sbrown@tribunemedia.net DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister of Immigration Brent Symonette expressed concern yesterday after sensitive documents from the Department of Immigration were leaked to the media. The documents revealed that within three days, 86 people were sworn in as citizens of the Bahamas. Thirty-nine were sworn in on Friday, January 13, 22 on Thursday, January 12 and 25 on Wednesday, January 11. The applicants' length of stay in the Bahamas ranged from six years to 36 years. While most of them were listed as being born in the Bahamas, several were born in Haiti and Jamaica. Mr Symonette said: "I am concerned that persons in the Department of Immigration would leak these documents such as the swearing-in list. They are not widely circulated and could have only come from a restricted area." The Tribune understands the government has launched an investigation within the department to discover who released the documents. Mr Symonette, who is in Chile attending a Caricom conference, did not comment on the information in the leaked documents. He is, however, expected to release a statement. It has been speculated by the opposition that the government is quickly processing applications for citizenship in an effort to secure more votes in the next election. PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts said he is deeply concerned these 86 applications were "approved in secret so close to elections". "I think it is strange that the Deputy Prime Minister would not be forthright, candid and open with the Bahamian people. If he had just laid this information on the table maybe people wouldn't think there was an ulterior motive. He is granting these people permanent residency and citizenship and isn't releasing the information. Aren't they supposed to be the government of transparency? This doesn't show it," he said. "Now it is in people's minds that this is just an election ploy. The public is deeply concerned. I saw some posts on Facebook, people want answers. I was Minister of Immigration under the PLP government for about six weeks and from what I know, this kind of thing is not normal practice." In an earlier interview with The Tribune, Mr Symonette denied the government was regularising people for political reasons. He said: "What I do at Immigration today, yesterday, next week, has nothing to do with an election. "I have a job to do and that is to regularise and do my work at Immigration so persons who have been waiting for years for something they are constitutionally entitled to apply for can get their fair hearing, and I'll continue to do that." Mr Symonette also accused commentators of using the controversial illegal immigration issue to gain political traction. "Those people who are born here who might not be Bahamian because their mother wasn't Bahamian have the right to have their applications heard. You can't keep frustrating them forever - these are people whose files have been languishing for five, six, seven, 10 years if not more. That's clearly wrong. Rather than making political football about this, let's look at the reality of the persons and the positions they are in," he said. Director of Immigration Jack Thompson refused to comment.