Haitians living in Grand Bahama and Abaco had mixed opinions Tuesday about the mass weekend immigration raid executed on three Family Islands.
While some agree there needs to be some sort of control of the amount of immigrants that come into the country, they despise the way the raids were carried out and how the Haitian nationals ﾗ some of them children ﾗ were treated.
Reports say some 300 illegal migrants are being detained following the raids in Eleuthera, Exuma and Ragged Island, where immigration officials swooped down on a number of homes before dawn and arrested adults and children.
In North Eleuthera, where a reported 187 immigrants were picked up, reports say 166 had to be released after they were found to have work permits.
The Freeport News visited the Pinder’s Point and Lewis Yard communities yesterday and heard from Haitians and Haitian-Bahamians who are convinced Haitians get treated differently by Immigration officials than any other foreigner, illegal or otherwise, in the country.
Theo came to Grand Bahama in 1983 and now has a four-year-old son and says he doesn’t mind if the government says they have to leave, but for the officers to come in the middle of the night and remove people from their home is inhumane.
“I have paper. If immigration catch up with me and tell me go, I can’t carry him (his son) to Haiti. He don’t know Haiti. When I leave him here, who take care of that (his son) for me,” he said.
Theo says Haitians should not be treated inhumanely, adding that “black people all together. We all the same colour.”
He says the news of the raids and the hundreds of people who were flown into the capital took a toll on one of his male friends, who had to be hospitalized yesterday.
“He get scared. He tell me he don’t want immigration catch him in the night when he sleeping. He got little children,” said Theo, pointing out that he worries about what will happen to them.
FaithRose, the mother of an 11-month-old baby boy, says she can’t leave her baby behind if immigration officers decide to take her away.
In fact, she says she has been waiting to hear from Immigration for some time.
“I don’t feel well,” said Jean, who has spent much of his life in Grand Bahama, about how the migrants were treated.
He said when immigration officers pick up the people in surprise raids they have to leave everything.
“It don’t make sense,” he said repeatedly.
Another man who called Grand Bahama home since 1953, says if he was home and Immigration came to his door in the middle of the night he would be scared.
He says he would prefer if they are allowed to secure their personal possessions before having to leave so abruptly.
“Yeah, I be scared. All my stuff, I build my house myself. I don’t want nobody to take my things,” he said, adding that he has a 22 and a 40-year-old son who were born in The Bahamas and know nothing about Haiti.
In the Pigeon Pea and The Mud, two predominantly Haitian communities in Abaco, residents told The Freeport News correspondent the migrants come to The Bahamas looking for a better life because the situation in Haiti is bad.
Some believe the raid should take place as there are too many Haitians there, too many of them are having children and the illegal ones should go.
But, they say, the casualties are the children who were born in The Bahamas and become “stateless” and have no status when they end up in Haiti with their parents.
“These kids, they don’t have any status in Haiti, no status in The Bahamas. Haiti don’t want you, The Bahamas don’t want you, so who are you,” said one female resident who is concerned about the children’s welfare when something like that happens.
She believes there should be a system in place that provides for the children who are sent to Haiti and become of age to be able to come back to The Bahamas.
“Some of these kids are in school already here. What happens to them? When they get to Haiti they can’t go as Haitians because they aren’t,” she said. “That’s why some have to come back the illegal way because they don’t want to be in Haiti.”
And then there are those residents who have been in Abaco for 30-plus years and yet have no status and know very little about Haiti. These people, some say, should get a chance to stay here.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE, Senior FN Reporter
