The Tribune

IMMIGRATION officials are investigating allegations of abuse from a woman born in the Bahamas to Haitian parents, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell said yesterday.

While he denied any assault or battery of people picked up in recent routine checks, he said that every public complaint of abuse is looked into.

He was referring to three reports published exclusively in The Tribune last week.

Mr Mitchell also said officials were looking into installing cameras in immigration buses as a precautionary measure.

In addition, it was announced last night that Prime Minister Perry Christie is expected to meet Haitian President Michel Martelly at the invitation of the Haitian government - for the first time since the November 1 new policies on immigration. The two are expected to meet during the prime minister’s visit to Cuba for the Caricom summit, to which he led a delegation yesterday.

In one incident, 19-year-old Dahene Nonord, born in the Bahamas to Haitian parents, told this newspaper that she was kicked several times, punched and put in a head-lock by immigration officers on Wednesday morning.

Ms Nonord admitted that she was not carrying her Bahamian documents to show her legal status in the country when officials approached her while she was walking on Cowpen Road. She said she was “wrongfully” apprehended and held in the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

Mr Mitchell said Ms Nonord filed a complaint on Thursday that is now under investigation by officials.

Human rights lawyer Fred Smith, QC, said immigration officials accosted him on Wednesday afternoon because he was taking photographs of them carrying out apprehensions at the Lynden Pindling International Airport.

Speaking during a press conference at the Department of Immigration, Mr Mitchell told reporters that the victims’ accounts did not match official reports.

Mr Mitchell said: “The standard for these checks is that of a reasonable suspicion. It is the constitutional standard. Each officer is briefed about the responsibility to adhere to that standard.

“To the best of my knowledge that standard has not been violated, and notwithstanding the most recent reports in the press, I am advised that no one has been assaulted or battered by any officer of the department in connection with the routine checks which are presently under review and scrutiny in the public domain.

“At this point the evidence is that her (Ms Nonord’s) version of the facts does not match the records of the department.

“Similarly, the complaint by Fred Smith, QC, was reported in the press. The report of Mr Smith does not match the evidence which is available to the department. In fact, the incident which he describes may have jeopardised the safety of an immigration operation.”

On November 1, the day government’s new immigration restrictions took effect, officials apprehended suspected illegal immigrants in several parts of New Providence.

Last week, The Tribune also reported that the mother of two children picked up by Immigration officials on November 1 alleged that the children slept on the floor of the Carmichael Road Detention Centre. The children were born in the Bahamas, their mother said.

The children, who were at home with an illegal immigrant when they were apprehended, were allegedly cold and hungry until they were released from the centre nearly three days later.

The Tribune also reported last week a father, who did not have legal status, admitted that he abandoned his children at home on November 1 because immigration officers were approaching.

These children were taken into the care of the state until they were released to legal guardians, he said.

Mr Mitchell said legal residents are free to make a complaint about any concerns about treatment of children while in custody.

“I would only say again that if the parents are lawfully in the Bahamas, they are invited to file a complaint either to the embassy of their nationality or directly to the Assistant Director of Immigration Dwight Beneby for investigation.

“In reviewing the newspaper report, the officials pointed out to me that the individuals making the complaints are being reviewed along with our procedures to be sure that no standard of human dignity or law was violated. Officers take the utmost care in dispensing their duties. We are especially sensitive about the treatment of children.”

Tomorrow, 228 people are expected to be repatriated to their home countries along with their children, Mr Mitchell said.

He urged the support of the public as officials work to correct illegal migration issues and protect the country’s borders.