Days after 24 Cuban detainees were repatriated, the government sent an additional eight Cuban migrants home, according to the Department of Immigration.
The news comes as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell on Tuesday revealed that the United States has granted asylum to as many as 10 Cuban migrants in The Bahamas.
Mitchell said the migrants were paroled out of the Carmichael Road Detention Centre after they were determined to be eligible for asylum status.
He said some of the migrants were released “as long as a year ago, and have been living in safe houses in The Bahamas”.
In addition to that, two Cuban detainees who are being held at Her Majesty’s Prisons may be granted asylum in the United States, their attorney Roger Gomez Jr. said.
Mauricio Valdez and Randy Rodriguez are awaiting final approval from authorities in the U.S.
Authorities from the United Nations interviewed Pedro Parrado, who is being held at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, last week. They are looking for a third country that will accept him, Gomez said.
Gomez had filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking the Cubans’ release.
The men appeared before Justice Carolita Bethell to give an update or their asylum status.
Mitchell has said that the men are seeking release based on “various allegations of abuse”.
If no country other than Cuba accepts the men, a full hearing of their case would take place on September 9.
But Mitchell said a part of the difficulty with the asylum process is how long it takes.
“[The U.S.] process takes anywhere from one month to six months once they’ve actually made the decision to take the people into the states,” he said.
Before this latest round of repatriations, Miami-based Democracy Movement called
off its protests against The Bahamas pending the fate of 22 Cuban detainees.
The group claims that guards at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre abused Cuban detainees. The Bahamas government has denied the claim.
A Florida lawmaker branded as “spineless” and “immoral” The Bahamas’ decision to repatriate the 24 Cubans last week.
However, Mitchell took exception to the comments. “The U.S. Coast Guard regularly sends people back to Havana,” he said.
“They interdict them on the seas. There is a migration committee that meets between the United States government and the Cuban government twice a year; they have the modalities all worked out.
“So what these people are making noise about, I have no idea; and these vile things their legislators are saying about The Bahamas.
“They don’t say the same thing about the United States when they exercise the same powers.”
By: Travis Cartwright-Carroll
Guardian Staff Reporter
