While there have been discussions on different levels regarding legislation, James Rolle, assistant director of Immigration for the Northern Bahamas, says changes are yet to be made to affect the penalty stage.
“Hopefully we’re going to be able to do that in the not too distant future. But over the years, I don’t think there has been sufficient emphasis placed on penalties for these offences.”
In fact, Rolle pointed out that there have not been sufficient review in terms of broadening the scope of activities that make certain alien smuggling-related activities an offence and the department is also looking at those areas.
“There really has been no real effort exerted in those areas other than we have been trying to patch up the wounds and wherever we saw something happening, then we would try to follow up,” he said.
But, the department has not had sufficient emphasis on analyzing and determining what to do next when certain things happen or how to prevent that activity.
“We’re now cognizant of the need, not just to deal with the existing problem, but to be able to look at what the potential problems would be and how do we combat, how do we address, how do we prevent and protect against future problems as it relates to migration,” he said.
While he would not go as far as to say illegal alien runners are limited to Haitians and Bahamians, Rolle added that there may be other nationals involved.
“Because wherever there is illegal activity it attracts persons who have that type of mind,” he said.
The immigration official explained that whether these runners are citizens of the country of origin or the country receiving these smuggled aliens, there are those out there so unscrupulous that they would be able to evaluate the situation and integrate themselves into a system to make it appear as though one or two sets of parties are responsible.
In fact, Rolle says that initially there was always the focus on Bahamians or Haitians smuggling people into the United States, but in recent years it was realized that a lot of the smuggling did not originate in The Bahamas.
The immigration official noted that The Bahamas was, and most likely, still is being used by other nationals as a transit location to the United States.
“We’ve found, too, that pleasure yachts, most of them which were American yachts were being used by nationals other than Americans. So it’s not limited to any particular group or nationality, we just don’t know how broad this web is,” he admitted.
While bringing on additional manpower is part of the resolution to assisting with the apprehension exercises the department has mounted over the recent months, Rolle says technology is the key as it affords the ministry to do much more.
Another key component, he said, is a review of the structure of the system to determine the type of resources necessary for either a land-based or marine and air operation or all-in-one.
Rolle noted that part of the systematic change should also entail the Department of Immigration’s ability to profile illegal immigrants who are sent out.
“If they come back again, we should be able to, by fingerprint or some other technical means of digital identification, be able to say that this person has been here before,” he said.
The system should be able to pick up that alien even if they present themselves as someone else with a different document.
There are joint operations between The Bahamas and the US and, he says, migrants discovered in international waters are still being transferred here by the US Coast Guard for repatriation.
“The numbers have been very small in recent times,” he said, noting that it is perhaps a signal that the combined effort of both governments is proving successful in effecting the flow in the area.
The ever-present question now, Rolle says, is determining an alternative location for a new Detention Centre to house illegal immigrants.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE, Senior Freeport News Reporter
