The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR and Immigration Minister Keith Bell said officials are considering changes to the law to ensure there are stiffer penalties for traffickers of illegal migrants.

He said the changes are in the embryonic stages of development.

This follows Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Raymond King’s comments to The Tribune earlier this week that the RBDF has seen a marked increase in illegal migration activity over the last three months with nearly 1,500 migrants apprehended in Bahamian waters within that time frame.

The latest statistics show there have been 1,892 migrants apprehended by local authorities since the start of this year, with most of those interdictions taking place in March.

International media has reported gang violence in Haiti. According to a Reuters article this week Haitians in the capital of Haiti fled “their homes on Monday as gun battles broke out between rival gangs”.

The minister was asked yesterday if he was expecting a surge of Haitian migrants coming to The Bahamas due to this unrest.

He said yesterday: “Well you recall from last year when we took office in October that’s the largest surge we’ve had and even though it’s subsided to a certain extent we’re still seeing certain surges. The information suggests that whenever we see one boat there’s one or two behind.

“So the Defence Force is on alert along with the Turks and Caicos along with the US Coast Guard and certainly the police force. So, certainly all the persons through the Family Islands we’re asking to be on alert and certainly our fishermen on these vessels. Not only to protect The Bahamas, but also to ensure we don’t have a tragedy at sea.”

He added: “There are several things which are being done under this adminstration - the first thing is amendments to the Immigration Act. We’re in the, I would say, the embryonic stages. There is a draft, however we’re looking at making certain amendments to ensure increased penalties for traffickers of irregular migrants.”

He also said: “You will notice there has been a significant increase in the number of irregular migrants coming from Haiti and the more difficult it gets over there the more you can anticipate that you will see these irregular migrants. The Bahamas we know from time immemorial that we see these surges. Given what we see in Haiti, what we know is that we can anticipate that there will be a significant increase, surge again as you would’ve seen.”

Probed about what is being done to re-route individuals, the minister admitted that is not an easy question to answer. He said “obviously the source is Haiti”, highlighting the political and economic instability they have suffered.

Therefore, there is an “outpouring” of people seeking a better way of life, he said.

“The Bahamas with these fixed assets in this jurisdiction, in this area, we are just there. You know we have good prosperity … you have them coming here and those who are not coming here want to get to the United States. Therefore you have this great influx and we anticipate that we’re going to continue to see it until we fix some of the issues and challenges with Haiti.

“It cannot be addressed by Haiti alone. It certainly cannot be addressed by The Bahamas, but again while we want to help the Haitian people and the government we have to ensure that we protect the interest of The Bahamas and the Bahamians.”