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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Last week events have shown the public that the immigration issue remains at front and centre as amongst the more serious challenges which face the country.
Activists in the country responded to reports in the press that the police have been asked to consider alleged remarks made at a meeting organized with one of the migrant communities in Nassau which may have bordered on incitement.
The response from those who organized the meeting was that this was some attempt by the minister to intimidate free speech.
That is typical of the kinds of exaggerations in which they often engage.
During the course of the week, an incident followed which led to the shooting of an individual by the police, which individual was wanted for criminal activities and is believed to be a part of that migrant community in the Gamble Heights area. In the course of the police operation, a police vehicle was damaged when the community reacted adversely to their operations.
This area of New Providence is well-known by the Immigration Department for hosting a shanty town of migrants. The area has been searched on no less than four occasions within the last year. It is believed that the land is occupied unlawfully.
What is needed is its removal because it is believed that through a combination of artifice, scams, corruption and intimidation, illegal migrants continue to occupy the area without let or hindrance. I reported to the House that at one time it was suspected that those escaping the Immigration net in Abaco were making their way to Gamble Heights in New Providence.
The Immigration Department is working once again with the Ministry for the Environment to identify resources to accomplish the removal of unlawful settlements.
The larger point that must be made is that the Government and the Minister have a responsibility to ensure that law and order prevail in our country; that only those who are entitled to be in The Bahamas are here lawfully; that there are no areas in this country that can be described as “no go” areas; that meetings held under the cover of one purpose are not being used to organize insurrection or a threat to the national security of our country; that we have an integrated and not segregated society based on national origin.
The Department of Immigration and the Minister will work tirelessly toward that end.
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