The 86 illegal Haitian immigrants whose presence alarmed Ragged Island natives were turned over to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre early Saturday morning, and one Ragged Islander said his fellow islanders “feel very good” about that.
The group of illegal immigrants landed in Nassau just before 8 o’clock Saturday morning, having been transported overnight to Nassau from Ragged Island aboard the HMBS Yellow Elder.
The group included 22 women and 64 men, and though there are rumoured to be some among them with military training, Defence Force officers were reportedly unable to detect any with military bearing.
Stephen Armbrister, a Ragged Islander, told the Journal that he too had heard the rumours that some among the group had military training, but he could not identify the source of that rumour.
According to Mr. Armbrister, the major concern facing Ragged Islanders who felt outnumbered by the illegal immigrants had been food, though he said there was also concern because some of the illegals had been “acting hostile” while incarcerated. He said they had been “trying to tear up the cell.”
A chopper dispatched from Nassau, loaded with police officers, landed on Ragged Island around midday, Mr. Armbrister said, and soon quelled the furor.
Now that the illegals are gone?
“We (Ragged Islanders) feel very safe and secure,” Mr. Armbrister said.
The group left Ragged Island shortly after 6pm on Friday, and docked at the Defence Force base on Coral Harbour around 7:45 Saturday morning. From there, they were loaded onto a pair of buses and taken to the detention centre.
Immigration officials at the centre received the group of migrants amid heightened security, noting that the centre was on “red alert” in the wake of the recent escape of three Cuban detainees.
Straight off the bus, the immigrants were shepherded into lines by detention centre officers, and apparently made to answer questions and give information, as detainees from within the compound looked on through the fence.
Immigration Minister Shane Gibson described the situation on Ragged Island on Friday as “unruly,” adding that the government was very concerned about reports that former Haitian police and military men were walking around as “normal” citizens, especially as it related to the safety of the island’s residents.
“The reports that I got were that we got some ex-uniformed officers from Haiti who were among that group in Ragged Island beginning to become a bit unruly,” Minister Gibson said. “We had to send a chopper down with some re-enforcement police officers to get there ahead of the defence force.”
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
