The United States has a sensible policy for its country when it comes to expelling deviants. If you are a problem person who has a criminal record and such and you are not American, they often send you home to your country to prevent you from causing further problems in their country.
The U.S. shouldn’t be blamed for being sensible. Once the citizenship of the individual being deported is established, their home country has a responsibility to receive them. This policy by the U.S. is one of the many reasons why the country as a whole does not have a crime problem.
Prime Minister Perry Christie recently said that The Bahamas needs additional help from the U.S. to effectively deal with criminal deportees from that country.
Christie added that the U.S. policy of deporting people who commit crimes is a major issue for The Bahamas and the Caribbean. This issue came up at a meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Caribbean leaders in Trinidad and Tobago.
“When I was at the office in Miami two days ago, I was given a list of a dozen young persons who the Americans are waiting on The Bahamas to agree to be returned to The Bahamas because America is expelling them,” said Christie outside the House of Assembly.
“What happens is that these people who are exposed to criminal practices, they come home.”
Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell recently criticized the United States for issuing warnings to its citizens traveling to The Bahamas when it has deported a large number of criminals to this country over the years. According to the Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2011 Report, 957 Bahamians convicted of criminal offenses were deported from The United States to The Bahamas between 2002 and 2011.
The U.S. Embassy’s John Armstrong has told reporters that the Bahamian government is informed before any criminal deportees are sent back to the country.
Rather than criticizing the Americans for attempting to keep their territory free and clean of foreign criminals, The Bahamas should look to do the same within its borders. Those non-Bahamians who are criminals or suspected of being habitual criminals should be expelled from our country and sent back to their homes. People saying they are stateless should not deter us. We have an obligation to police and house Bahamians who have lost their way. Non-Bahamians should be returned to their home countries. This is simply good policy.
The Bahamas is again on pace for a murder record. We have had four murder records the last six years. The murder total last year was the second highest in our history. We must be aggressive in our response to our crime problem.
– Editorial from The Nassau Guardian