Brian Moree, a senior managing partner of McKinney, Bancroft and Hughes, said it was important that legal migrants were not ostracised by society.
“In getting excited about stopping illegal immigration we must not make the mistake to ignore the importance and relevance of legal immigration,” Mr Moree said at a recent Civil Society Bahamas (CSB) town meeting on illegal immigration. “Otherwise that is how we get characterised as being biased.”
Mr Moree insisted that while the government needs to crack down on ‘illegals,’ the country’s immigration policy must reflect our obligations to the international community as well as advancing the interests of the Bahamian people.
“Now I think as a responsible member of the community of nations, we have a responsibility to accept our share of immigrants from other countries whether they be refugees or designated as something else,” he said.
“No one is suggesting that we close our borders [while] we rally around everything Bahamian and reject everything that is not. That clearly is as bad as opening the borders and letting everyone in. Neither extreme will serve our interests.”
Tennyson Wells, a fellow CSB panellist and MP, pointed out that foreign workers make a vital contribution to the economy. “Illegal immigration is insidious to any society in that it creates an underground illegal economy because the ‘illegals’ pay little or no taxes and they sponge off the Education, Health, and other Social Services that the country offers,” said Mr Wells.
“On the other hand, legal immigration contributes much to any society in terms of added legal economic activity, cultural and social exchange and new ideas.” Mr Wells insisted legal migration has played a key role in Bahamian politics.
“In the first PLP Cabinet almost 50 per cent or more of the members were first or second generation Bahamians.
In the first FNM Cabinet there were three or four first and second generation Bahamians,” said Mr Wells. “In the present PLP Cabinet, there are a few members who are first and second generation Bahamians either on the maternal and paternal side.”
“I would venture to say that at least 30 per cent of the persons who are Bahamian citizens today, are first and second generation Bahamians or naturalised Bahamians,” he continued. “I would go further and say that the vast majority of those Bahamians consider themselves as much Bahamians as those of us who can trace their roots back to the seventeenth century. And in terms of how they behave, function and carry out their civic duties, they are quite right in believing they are Bahamians.”
He added that legal migrants are needed for the future development of the country.
“I believe legal immigration in any developing society is desirable. It all depends on how it is controlled in the short, medium and long term,” Mr Wells said. “Many people would disagree with me on that but when you think about it and you think about other societies and how they developed, for instance the United States, they developed because they opened their arms and embraced people from all over the world. All they say is they want the illegal to be legal.”
By: JASMIN BONIMY, The Nassau Guardian
