NEARLY 200 hundred migrants were convicted of immigration offences on Friday.
According to a statement from the Department of Immigration, 170 Haitians and two Cubans were charged in Magistrate’s Court before Magistrates Shaka Serville and Algernon Allen, Jr, for various violations of the Immigration Act.
The Haitian nationals were charged with illegal landing. Thirty-three of them were subsequently convicted and fined $100 each or, in default of payment, ordered to serve two weeks at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.
The remaining 137 migrants were convicted and given a conditional discharge, with the stipulation that any further violation of the Immigration Act would result in a $300 fine and/or three months in prison.
The Cubans were convicted of overstaying and were conditionally discharged with the same stipulations as the conditionally discharged Haitian migrants. Additionally, deportation at their own expense was recommended.
Upon payment of fines or completion of custodial sentences, all migrants were ordered to be turned over to the Department of Immigration for deportation.
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