Immigration officials estimate there are somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 illegal immigrants in The Bahamas.
Haitians living in Grand Bahama and Abaco have expressed mixed opinions to mass round-ups of illegal immigrants saying that they despise the way the raids were carried out and how Haitian nationals, some of them children, are treated.
However, at a media briefing while in Grand Bahama Monday evening, the minister dismissed criticism of his ministry as being insensitive with regard to the recent raids on several islands.
In fact, he says, the naysayers are only a few.
“If you got one or two people being extremely vocal on the issue, I would not consider that heavy criticism,” he said. “As a matter of fact, if I talk to 10 individuals on a daily basis, nine of them will say, ‘Continue what you are doing. We support you 100 percent.’ ”
Minister Gibson also pointed out that maybe one out of every 100 people would advise that his ministry be a bit more sensitive to how it goes about determining who is here illegally.
“At the same time we have a job to do. We don’t pursue illegal immigrants in hospitals; we don’t pursue them in the schools; we don’t pursue them in the churches,” he revealed.
“If you don’t want us there early in the morning, if you don’t want us to go on the job, if you don’t want us to have them in bus loads in the middle of the day, when do you want us to do it,” Minister Gibson questioned.
While he agrees the subject is a “touchy” one to those who object, the minister also believes for the most part that Bahamians and Haitian immigrants understand they are simply enforcing the laws which have been in the books for some time.
Minister Gibson insists his ministry is not being biased towards Haitians and is merely looking for illegal immigrants.
The ministry is regularizing those persons who qualify and, at the same time, immigration officers are also more aggressive in seeking out individuals in the country illegally.
The message, he says, must get out that members of the public with information where illegal immigrants are being housed should come forward to the relevant authority.
“We’ve been relatively successful to date, and I guess it’ll be good if we can encourage the public’s assistance in identifying those persons who are here illegally,” he said.
Once this is accomplished, the minister revealed there would be less need to go out there and perform the kind of round-up exercises as of late.
As a matter of fact, the minister says that type of exercise is a last resort.
“When you look at the numbers that we have been able to put together so far for the year, I think everybody would agree and realize that we have a significant amount of illegal immigrants out there,” he stated.
The minister’s position is not to inconvenience anyone but he will not be distracted and will remain focussed as his ministry has a job to protect the country.
Questioned about any concern for his safety, Minister Gibson says it is a job that has to be done but he is not concerned.
“Sometimes when you get in these sensitive positions the chips have to fall where they may and I don’t mind giving up the ultimate sacrifice for my country,” he assured.
He says the Ministry of Immigration has been pretty successful to date and will continue to do what it has to as they continue to dialogue with the Ambassador to Haiti and other interest groups within the Haitian community to ensure any inconveniences are minimized.
Minister Gibson says his ministry is also cracking down more vigorously on employers who hire illegal immigrants because if they have nowhere to work they will more than likely not want to be here.
He pointed out that the law states that a person must be outside of The Bahamas before his application for employment can be considered.
“If you have somebody you want to hire who is in The Bahamas, get them out before we get to them,” he said.
If the individual leaves voluntarily, Minister Gibson says the ministry will entertain the work permit application and process it as quickly as possible.
“If we get them through one of our exercises or if somebody calls us and tells us and we pick them up, we will not entertain any application for a work permit,” he disclosed.
The Ministry of Immigration considers more than 25,000 applications for permanent resident status and citizenship on an annual basis οΎ— 350 alone on a slow day in the capital and 250 in Grand Bahama.
A majority of those applications are of Haitian origin, the minister revealed.
With the existing policies, government hopes to reduce the illegal immigrant count to a bare minimum.
In the event that is unattainable with the present laws, Minister Gibson says new policies will have to be considered.
Twenty people, including eight minors, were sworn in as citizens of The Bahamas while Minister Gibson was in Grand Bahama Monday.
Meanwhile, 11 Haitians, five Cubans, one Jamaican were picked up on Monday and several more yesterday and taken into custody for processing.
The minister also met with several labour leaders on several labour matters in Grand Bahama.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE, Senior Freeport News Reporter
