Conditions reportedly remain so bad in Haiti that the UN asked
several countries, The Bahamas included, if they would stop sending
illegal Haitian immigrants back home for a while.
Apparently The Bahamas Government's position is to continue with
repatriation efforts until further consultation with Haitian Officials.
Every time an issue with Haitian's comes up it reminds us all how
lackadaisical we've been over the years with finding a permanent
solution.
It seems impossible to prevent illegal landings with our limited
resources. And our vast area of open water doesn't help. It's
easy enough for interceptor vessels to pass sloops and other boats with loads
of people looking for a better life entering our territorial waters
without seeing each other out there.
So we have two problems. Illegal immigrants arriving on a
daily basis and those many Haitian's that have lived here, and in many
instances, contributed to our country that have no status.
Now comes the hard part. How do we solve these issues?
It's very easy to say we'll stop the boats coming here. But how
realistic is that? It seems we have to do a more effective and
consistent job of
"rounding the recent entrants up" and sending them back. And this also
easier said than done. The Immigration Department can circulate photos
of their "raids" every day, but details of the entire process and its
effectiveness is what's important. Not press releases.
With regard to those illegal Haitians that have been here for
generations we must consider giving them status and property rights of
some sort. And they do not have to have the right to vote initially.
We were fortunate to be born in a relatively rich country where
opportunity is available for advancement as a general rule. At least the
majority of our poor population still seem to live better than most of
Haiti's population. So somehow, we have to get past the emotions of this
subject, even if only for a short while to arrive at some useful
positions to move this issue from the stalemate it has become.
So here are a few recommendations as thought starters:
-
Policing of illegal immigrants that are here must be improved.
-
Legalise the status of many of the Haitians that have been here for generations.
-
Provide property rights for the squatters and,
-
Figure out how to phase their status in so they can eventually become full citizens or leave voluntarily.
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