Since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on America, the numbers of Bahamians imprisoned in the United States have soared, Bahamian Ambassador Joshua Sears indicated while a guest on the Radio Love 97 Programme “Jones and Company” Sunday.
While not revealing specific numbers, Mr. Sears, who is stationed in Washington, D.C., said that the matter was one of serious concern.
The Ministry of National Security recently received a report from the Bahamas Consul General office in Miami on Bahamians imprisoned in the United States, but officials have not yet made those figures public.
Many of these cases are drug-related, Mr. Sears said.
“We have many Bahamians in the United States,” he added, “all over the United States in Federal and State institutions, many of whom are charged with very serious offenses, mostly narcotic offences.”
Violation of immigration rules is now more prevalent, he said.
“Previously, one could travel and stay six months and Bahamians, because of the proximity and the history of relations between Florida and the Bahamas, felt that Florida was a second home,” Mr. Sears said.
“The increased enforcement of the law now makes it difficult for people to do that kind of thing and our major focus to them is that if they plan to live in the United States, they should go through the process of regularizing their status.”
The Ambassador also spoke of the problem of a brain drain that The Bahamas faces and intimated that because of certain realities, the trend is likely to continue.
“Large countries provide more opportunities for people,” he pointed out. “Small economies will continue to be faced with this challenge. You’re training large numbers of persons for your labour force which can’t find expression locally and I think that’s really the heart of it.”
The Bahama Journal
