Debate over treatment of illegal aliens

As of Thursday, October 19, 2017

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE recent announcement by the Prime Minister of his government’s intention to deal with the illegal alien problem, has rightly sparked a debate on the treatment of illegal aliens in The Bahamas. I wish to join the debate.

Article 7 of the constitution of The Bahamas reads in part, as follows:

“A person born in The Bahamas after 9th July 1973 neither of whose parents is a citizen of The Bahamas shall be entitled,upon making application on his attaining the age of eighteen years or within twelve months thereafter in such manner as may be prescribed, to be registered as a citizen of The Bahamas:” The remainder of the article speaks to the renunciation of any citizenship that the person might have; the taking of the oath of allegiance; and is subject to “such exceptions or qualifications as may be prescribed in the interests of national security or public policy.”

I am not a lawyer, so I must rely on my knowledge of the English language.

My understanding of the article is that persons born in The Bahamas after July 9, 1973, are entitled to be registered as citizens upon making an application within the time prescribed by the constitution. The right is to be registered as a citizen of the Bahamas, and not, as some have suggested, that the right is to apply to be registered as a citizen.

If my understanding of the constitution is correct, then The Bahamas has, since 2001 (18 years after 1973) denied to persons born in The Bahamas, their constitutional right to be registered as citizens of The Bahamas. If my understanding of the constitution is incorrect, then I hope that some person learned in the law will show why I am wrong.

The Bahamas has never, in my opinion, been serious about persons born in The Bahamas after 1973, accessing their right to citizenship.

If it was serious, then there would have been public service announcements in Creole and English advising these persons of their constitutional right.

Since the majority of persons entitled to this right would be persons whose parents are Haitian, and who would not normally be familiar with the provisions of the constitution, then it was the obligation of The Bahamas to inform these persons of their rights. It is not too late to correct this oversight.

Many Bahamians assert that The Bahamas is a Christian nation.

The Christian thing to do, in my opinion, would be to invite all those eligible persons, who might not have known of their rights, and the imposed application deadline to make application now so that they could claim their constitutional rights.

A LEONARD ARCHER

Nassau,

October 13, 2017.

DDK 6 years, 6 months ago

The Constitution should therefore be changed, post-haste, as this obviously encourages illegals to have babies in our country, not a good thing for children of legal Bahamians who have to compete for social services and jobs as it is. Small wonder there were not public service announcements in Creole and In English. I do not, however, think this is a secret as children of Haitian parents, whether legal or otherwise, born in the Bahamas have been taking advantage of this rule for decades. Being a good Christian, looks like you have let the cat out of the bag for the uninformed!

Reality_Check 6 years, 6 months ago

Fully agree - Constitution should be changed asap.

Economist 6 years, 6 months ago

Oh my Bahamas, if you change the constitution you will breach those international treaties that your beloved PLP signed; they been fooling and feeding your ignorance for years.

Ever wondered why we still have a grade D average in this country?

A. Leonard Archer is correct.

SP 6 years, 6 months ago

The Haitian constitution declares any person born of Haitian parentage, anywhere, are automatically Haitian citizens and does not allow the renunciation of Haitian citizenship.

The Bahamian constitution does not allow citizenship to be granted to any individual unless a renunciation of citizenship from any other country takes place first.

Haitians CAN NOT "legally" become citizens of the Bahamas as they CAN NOT "legally" renounce their Haitian citizenship to become compliant with the Bahamian constitution.

Once a Haitian, always a Haitian....Period.

Secondly, the Haitian constitution dictates that NO ONE other than an individual having proof of Haitian lineage is eligible for Haitian citizenship!

There should be public service announcements in Creole and English advising these persons of their CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTIONS AND A. Leonard Archer doesn't know what he's talking about!!

OldFort2012 6 years, 6 months ago

The Constitution is the highest legal document of a country. I am not a lawyer, but I would argue that the Bahamian Constitution springs from English Common Law. This should be obvious to all, as the people who wrote our Constitution were schooled in the British system and were advised by people schooled in the same. As we all know, Common Law is NOT based on a written Constitution but on Precedent. This aside is necessary to understand the next part of the argument. The real question here is: can a Constitutional RIGHT spring from a CRIME? Illegal entry into the Bahamas is illegal and therefore a CRIME. Hence the people who illegally settled here are CRIMINALS in the eyes of the Law. I think there can be very little argument about this. Some people might not like this fact just as some people might not like the fact that the sun rises in the East, but there is no arguing with it in Law. A crime remains a crime until an Amnesty is proclaimed.
One of the central tenets of Common Law is that no benefit or gain should accrue to the criminal from a crime. It is pretty obvious why. If I break into your house and steal your wallet, it would be a pretty stupid legal system that would send me to jail but allow me to keep your wallet. I would have benefitted from the crime. Hence not only do I have to give the wallet back but I ALSO go to jail. Let us apply this principle here. If necessary we can hold a simple Referendum and insert "but both parents legally settled" to the clause above. This would elegantly solve the problem and specify something that the framers of the Constitution obviously intended but did not formulate tightly enough. I refuse to believe that the framers of the Constitution intended to give any rights to criminals.

sheeprunner12 6 years, 6 months ago

If there are 50,000 undocumented persons in our country ......... and another 50,000 awaiting citizenship regularization ........... That is at least 25% of our population ........ That is a social crisis. .............. The Government is not being forthright with the Immigration numbers.

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