The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

IT is interesting that in its efforts to create the appearance of an illegal immigrant crackdown, the government conveniently overlooks the core problem.

For many years, persons have come to the Bahamas illegally and have had children, called anchor babies, that have been defined as stateless. Illegal migrants had their children in government hospitals, were immunised in government clinics and educated and fed in government schools without any major intervention by government.

There was never an effort to ‘encourage’ those parents to have those children registered as citizens with their country of origin or to repatriate these parents with their children to discourage this behaviour.

As as result we have approximately one quarter of our population as either illegals or the offspring of illegal immigrants.

One wonders why, with Parliament being the law factory that it is, hasn’t one law been passed to simply state that the children of illegal immigrants will be denied the ability to apply for Bahamian residency or citizenship and upon discovery of these children the parents and child will be repatriated to the parents’ country of origin.

Might seem harsh, but isn’t the breaking of laws generally associated with penalties?

As a sovereign country shouldn’t we have clearly stated laws with real consequences to discourage breaking our laws?

Instead, we have rewarded illegal migrants and their offspring with the best that this land has to offer while marginalised Bahamian taxpayers pay for it all. Apart from interdicting migrant ships and repatriating some migrants, there has been no real deterrent in place for illegal immigrants?

This country’s stance on illegal immigration is hypocritical and duplicitous. It shows that the Bahamas is not a country of laws, but of laws of convenience.

JB

Nassau,

October 13, 2017.