NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Twenty-nine Haitian migrants that were intercepted by the United States Coast Guard are expected to be transported to Ragged Island for detainment, revealed Exumas and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper yesterday.
The migrants are expected to be held at the Royal Bahamas Defence Force base at Gunpoint, Ragged Island, until they can be repatriated to Haiti, Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield confirmed.
However, Cooper decried the decision, echoing what he termed as “outrage” from residents on the island and calling on the government to reverse it immediately.
“I think it’s a ridiculous plan,” he told Parliament.
“I protest it in the strongest possible terms and I ask the government to reverse this plan forthwith, because the people of Ragged Island have started wondering why you despise them so.
“…This is contemptuous and I ask you to reverse it because the people of Ragged Island will not take kindly to it.”
Cooper insisted that the island, since being decimated by Hurricane Irma in September 2017 and deemed “uninhabitable”, still has no nurse, doctor, or clinic and there is no logistical support at the base.
“If it is the intention to land temporarily and then deport, this is a terrible place to do it because the logistics are horrible,” he continued.
“There is no bus, there are no vans. There are no proper facilities at the defense force base at Gunpoint. This is a ridiculous plan and the people of Ragged Island are rightfully concerned and outraged.”
However, speaking to reporters outside of Parliament on the matter, Henfield noted that the defense force and immigration conducted a similar exercise in Inagua last week.
“We were assured by defense force officials that they will be able to hold them there for a brief period of time until they are able to be repatriated to their home country of Haiti,” he said.
Asked about the lack of health capacity on the island, Henfield said, defense force personnel are well able to handle the matter.
“They have a sick bay,” he said.
“They are well able to manage these circumstances.
“They have been doing so for many many years and we didn’t see it as an immediate concern.
“But we always have the option that if there is a health crisis that we need to address immediately to use an airplane to evacuate and to do what is necessary to get people the help that they need.”
Officials reported last week that 23 Haitian migrants were apprehended aboard a 25-ft Bahamian registered Wellcraft vessel in waters off Florida by a US Coast Guard Cutter last Thursday.
They arrived in Great Inagua on Sunday, where 21 migrants were being detained on the island after two individuals were “flown out for medical reasons”.
Prior to being transferred, all of the migrants were screened for COVID symptoms, with none displaying any signs, officials said.
Loading ...
