The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE attorneys for Canadian resident Bruno Rufa have said that his deportation from The Bahamas “dramatically and prejudicially affected” their client’s long-term residency in Freeport.

Mr Rufa, who has owned a condominium at Coral Beach Hotel in Freeport for 10 years, has to constantly seek permission to come in and out of The Bahamas on an exceptional basis.

Fred Smith, QC, a partner at Callenders and Co, and senior associate Carey Leonard are representing Mr Rufa in his deportation case.

In January, Mr Rufa was arrested for allegedly working illegally in the country. The criminal matter is pending in Magistrate’s Court.

In February, while attending a hearing, Mr Rufa was subsequently deported because of the decision by the director of immigration finding that he was an undesirable under Section 40 of the Immigration Act.

Mr Smith has brought judicial review proceedings on behalf of Mr Rufa against the government over the decisions taken, and is seeking an interlocutory injunction restraining his client’s deportation from The Bahamas pending the determination of the judicial review proceedings.

On August 18, the trial was adjourned in the Supreme Court after counsel for the government requested a delay to mid-September or October, which was opposed by Mr Smith.

An affidavit by Carey Leonard submitted in the Supreme Court on August 18 in support of Mr Rufa’s claimed that the Canadian continues to be prejudiced by the actions taken by the government.

“The applicant continues to maintain that the same were illegal. These actions have dramatically and prejudicially affected his long time residency in Freeport,” the affidavit said.

“I am told by Mr Rufa that he sold his home in Canada last year and had intended on spending most of his time in Freeport at his condominium here as he has been doing over the last decade.”

In the affidavit, Mr Leonard further claimed that Mr Rufa is under constant stress and anxiety.

“He also tells me that he has had problems coming into the United States from Canada because the Bahamas government has apparently informed the US government that Mr Rufa is not to be allowed back into the Bahamas and I am told by him that he was questioned at length by the US/ Canadian border officials on the last occasion he tried to return and he was almost prevented from doing so,” the attorney said.

Mr Leonard said Mr Rufa has also informed him that in June 2015, on his return to the Bahamas to attend a Magistrate’s Court hearing, he was stopped by a US immigration official who wanted to know what had happened at his court hearing in April. According to the document, the US immigration official was under the impression the Bahamas had a second case against Mr Rufa.

“It took Mr Rufa 45 minutes to be cleared to travel,” Mr Leonard said in his affidavit.

During another occasion on June 18, when Mr Rufa was travelling back to Canada through Miami, the attorney said his client was stopped by US Immigration who asked about the charges brought by Bahamas Immigration and had indicated to Mr Rufa that he had to convince him that he (Rufa) was not going to stay in Florida to work.

In his affidavit, Mr Leonard also noted that Mr Rufa had told him that as a result of the actions taken by immigration officials, there have been letters to the editor written about him to the Freeport News and a petition set up against him in Freeport.

“It is imperative that the legality, or otherwise, of the actions taken by (the Department of) Immigration be determined so that Mr Rufa knows where his life stands. Indeed, Mr Rufa has previously received a home owner’s residency permit from the Immigration Department to reside at his home here and, as his counsel, I was recently told by the Immigration Department that his application for a homeowner’s permit under the International Persons Landholding Act would not be considered until the Magistrate’s Court matter was determined.”