Over 6000 migrants repatriated in 2016
Nassau, Bahamas - The following is a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
A report online states that a Haitian vessel with 99 illegal
migrants on board made its way into the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Base
with the migrants on board and went undetected up the Bahama Island
chain, and that the people were only detected and arrested once they
were discovered on the base at Coral Harbour on Christmas Day.
For public information, the Department of Immigration received a report
from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force on Christmas Eve that a vessel
bearing suspected illegal migrants had been detected off the Exuma
chain. The vessel was interdicted near the southern end of the Exuma
chain by a Defence Force patrol craft.
On board were 77 males
and 22 females. The migrants were disembarked from the vessel and
transported to Coral Harbour Base by the RBDF arriving at about 1:30 a.m
on Christmas Day. The arrested migrants were handed over to Immigration
officials and are detained at the Detention Centre in New Providence
where they await repatriation.
So far up to 26th December, 2016, a
total of 6335 migrants were repatriated to their home countries for the
year 2016 as follows:
Haitians - 4655
Cubans - 1179
Jamaicans - 214
Chinese - 73
Brazilians - 59
Dominican - 47
Ecuadorian - 24
others mixed nationalities.