The ability to understand the physics behind a three-sided coin helps us to evaluate and determine the probability on how a rotating and bouncing cylinder will land or will have on a particular outcome. The three-sided coin which contains the heads, tails, and edge will be an illustration used to describe the economic, social, and political dynamics of immigration in The Bahamas. The successive failure in the past of devising and implementing both a coherent and sustainable immigration policy had threatened the economic fabric of The Bahamas, jeopardized our social and cultural mechanics, and was a crisis that posed a threat to our national security and well-being as a people.

The veracity of the circumstances is comprehensible. Had the Bahamas continued on a trajectory of incompetently executing its immigration policies, the country would have suffered a colossal damage to its future prosperity and security. The lack thereof in the past of an effective immigration policy undermined the potential achievement of reaping the tremendous benefits of durable immigration laws. Immigration reform policies come at a time when The Bahamas is facing a critical challenge in protecting its porous borders. Creating a feasible political, social , and economic immigration policy has been a touchstone for the national conversation for decades. The reality of reducing the number of illegal immigrants in the country today is more of a challenge than it was in the 1980s.

Much of the recent policy has focused on addressing the thousands of undocumented immigrants in The Bahamas and creating less of a bureaucratic application process. It seems like a straightforward policy approach, however, the public discourse is divided over a pragmatic solution to immigration. The political theatrics over immigration is unwarranted. The arguments are well defined, from undocumented immigrants being either an economic boon or an economic drain. As long as The Bahamas continues to be the economic holy land, our country will remain a mecca for potential immigrants-- legal and illegal.

The national conversation over immigration requires some academic input for the creation of informed decisions. Currently, there's no evidence to suggest that recent immigration policies were the Christie administration flexing their governmental powers for the sake of reconciling with the Bahamian people. The government, whether you support them or not as an administration, has gone beyond the rhetoric of immigration reform. It's essential that we clarify the mischievous pollution surrounding the arguments over immigration. This is difficult for some to hear. The recently instituted policy changes is not a violation of the law nor an affront to the Constitution. Common sense will inform any country on the importance of people having some form of identification and required legal documents to reside. The recent student visa policy is just as pressing as any other part of immigration reform. The inability of some individuals to grasp a commonly practiced policy around the world is very problematic.

Individuals are expected to have an informed disagreement over the implementation of a policy, but it is highly irresponsible for them to have a parlor game of rhetorical differences and ideological polarization, which will likely have broader consequence for the image of the country. Arguably, there is a very broad consensus among the Bahamian people to get something tangible on immigration reform. The term 'amnesty' is not in any form the definition of 'immigration reform'.

The underlying issue of the unjustified backlash surrounding immigration is contributed by the changing demographics of our country which would make individuals of Haitian descent the largest minority in the country, giving them an impression that the immigration policy encourages profiling towards them. The extended version of the argument in regards to demographics from The Bahamian perspective builds a reasonable conclusion that they would lose their majority status. The issue of immigration is shaping The Bahamas, and it's imperative that we realize its forceful ability of profoundly changing our economic and social sphere. The political consequence is quite obvious-- individuals tend to align themselves with the political party that has a compelling immigration policy in their interest. Without statistical information, it's hard to determine the potential impact the policy will have on Bahamian politics or whether there may be any changes. Notably, there will be a culture of resentment and strained relationships between nationalities. Such backlash usually contaminates the national views on immigration and result in the alteration of the policy on the basis of a potential political fallout, surprisingly, however, it didn't happen because the political balance was favourable for the government.

The government has the advantage on the issue of immigration because of the Bahamian people's attitude on the preference of a very strict policy. Immigration is not a partisan issue-- both parties support it. The political calculus is shared beneficially for both parties because of their shared policy position. Despite this, we can't ignore the impact that immigration continues to have on the demographics of The Bahamas. We can assume futuristically that the demographics change in the Bahamas, which may increase a minority grouping, will have an effect on partisan alignment, social policy, and electoral outcomes.

Something the Minister of Immigration understands and continues to communicate is the power of immigration to shape our society as we know it and influence how The Bahamas responds to public policy needs. Before the implementation of the policy, the Ministry of Immigration made public the details of the policy and extended an invitation to examine them, welcoming any feasible recommendation. The Minister of Immigration's efforts to provide targeted fixes to a broken immigration system are efforts most Bahamians agree on. There's no space for disagreement over policies that achieve the basic outline of bringing those here illegally out of the shadows in an appropriate and humane manner. It's not sustainable to the economy of the Bahamas to have illegal immigrants living and working here who disengage themselves from any involvement in the direct, voluntary process of nation building.

This is a starting point-- the first bold step to getting our house in order on immigration. Part of the discussion must entail the question: “how do we use immigration to boost the Bahamian economy?”. If we truly want to build a knowledge-based economy, we have to retain the skills needed for our people, and create an environment to attract talent to build our human resources capabilities. High-skilled immigrants are good for The Bahamas when we understand that the dynamics of immigration is vital to our economy. The future of immigrant children and their economic well-being as adults clings to the possibility of a well-articulated pathway to citizenship.

The Minister of Immigration played an important role in potentially opening the door for debate and action on immigration reform. Despite a divided on other political issues, it is in the interest of both sides of the aisle to fix The Bahamas' immigration system. The real question is, how far will the government go about fixing immigration? The Hon. Fred Mitchell appears to be making policy reform a top priority the country appears close to taking meaningful action on this important issue. The road to fixing this issue seems to be long, but it's important that we recognize an unseen political willingness to change the makeshift on immigration policies that have unfolded in the past few months.

It is only fair that we consider all possible policy solutions. I don't think it is in the best interest of our country to intentionally disregard the amount of undocumented immigrants that reside here. Resoundingly, the option of complete amnesty is off the kitchen table. Is the legalization without citizenship a viable option from a conditional perspective? The mass deportation of illegal immigrant in The Bahamas is both unpalatable and impractical. How can we ensure that a pathway to implementing a system of citizenship isn't a political leverage for electoral benefits? How can we ensure that we as citizens of our country can trust and have faith that the administering of citizenship is done effectively and fairly..

If the Minister of Immigration fancies to find a way to a sustainable solution, he must examine the genuine predicament of the thousands of undocumented immigrants in The Bahamas without ignoring the legitimate concerns thousands of Bahamians have about their presence. Let's have a practical discussion about immigration by removing the hyperbole and stereotypes from the argument. It's imperative that we look beyond the differences of the conversation and the anger and deep anxiety aroused by illegal immigration. No policy will collectively satisfy the general public over a complicated issue, but it should be designed to advance the national interest.

It's clear that the failure to address the flow of illegal migration from any country will inevitably change the dynamics of the Bahamas' economic, social, cultural, and political fabric. There's a need to hold a constructive, substantive national conversation over how we define and shape immigration reform. Let's discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the newly implemented immigration policy and debate the economic and political aspects of immigration reform. Having highly polarized discussions over immigration won't fix the issue. We must ensure that any immigration reform reflects a balance between immigration laws and due process with humanitarian values.

Latrae Rahming, CEO of Bahamaren "Chinese Consultancy Firm University of International Business and Economics ( Beijing, China)  Student Government President"

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of TheBahamasWeekly.com