From:TheBahamasWeekly.com
Immigration in The Bahamas: The Three Sided Coin
By Latrae Rahming
Feb 8, 2015 - 9:03:30 AM
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
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