NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas has repatriated 2,443 immigrants this year, with more than half that sum representing Haitian nationals.
Immigration minister Keith Bell provided updated figures on repatriations up to August as he responded to opposition criticisms of the government’s efforts to address irregular migration.
Haitian migrants are the largest group with a total of 1,819 people sent home.
The number of repatriated Cubans was the second highest on the list with nearly 200 people.
Bell told the press that since the Davis administration took office last September they have been seriously tackling immigration issues.
“When we took office last September we would have had an influx of just over 1,000 immigrants into our country, that was a crisis and this PLP administration responded to that crisis,” he said.
“We deployed our resources, immigration, defense, and the police and we were able to deal with that process effectively we applied due process and we ensure that all of those persons who came here last year in that crisis, were repatriated to their home countries.”
The immigration minister added that an ongoing challenge for the country lies within its fixed assets being located in a major migration zone. He pointed to the Defence Force interceptions of illegal vessels on Bahamian borders over the last few months and on-the-ground operations to detect irregular migrants as some ways they have been dealing with the issue.
“And let me indicate, too, that we are not only dealing with the immigrants who are irregular migrants who are coming here by boat, we are also dealing with those who are actually here in our country,” he continued.
“And our repatriation numbers speak to this; and so far, for the year, this year alone, we have repatriated in excess of 1800 irregular migrants back to Haiti, which is very significant.”
Bell added that while they are tackling illegal trespassing, a high cost is associated with successful repatriation. He says that additional funding is obtained through a contingency fund from the Ministry of Finance.
“Well, the repatriation cost in the millions of dollars the government spends millions of dollars annually.
“And what happens is you would appreciate it because we don’t know when we’re going to have an influx, and so you can never really budget for that,” he said.
The immigration minister also defended the current administration’s methods, reiterating that they are taking the matter seriously by strengthening the armed forces and allocating the funds needed to carry out operations.
Bell said: “We have a major immigration problem which has persisted over the years; and again, it is how the government has responded to that challenge.
“And you would see that, for example, just through the acquisition of the boats, over $100 million was spent in the development of our bases, decentralization of the Defense Force; and we’ve had we have 174 recruits in immigration, which are about to graduate.
“And so we’re ensuring that we beef up our borders, we do our interception, we treat these irregular migrants with the highest degree of humanity and we repatriate very swiftly,” Bell said.
