By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Stunned Bahamian businesses yesterday described the Immigration Department’s ‘raid’ at Atlantis as “simply reprehensible”, warning that such actions were counterproductive to the Government’s key objectives of economic growth and job creation.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, told Tribune Business the organisation “obviously can’t condone” the way Immigration officers entered the resort’s Dolphin Cay and detained the head sea lion trainer in front of resort guests.

Others, though, were more blunt. Dionisio D’Aguilar, Superwash’s president and a leading critic of the Government’s new ‘harder line’ work permit and Immigration policies, said he was “absolutely shocked” by media reports of what had happened.

Telling Tribune Business that his phone had been “inundated with phone calls from people wondering what the hell is going on”, the former Chamber of Commerce president said the Atlantis incident showed his prediction was coming true.

Mr D’Aguilar had previously warned that “vitriolic rhetoric” by government ministers over the work permit issue would result in Immigration officials “starting to treat people like dirt”, and he suggested that yesterday’s events were a reflection of that.

Given that Atlantis was the single largest foreign direct investment in the Bahamas, the businessman added that the Immigration Department’s tactics were “sending the wrong message” and causing investors - both foreign and Bahamian - to “pause” growth and expansion plans.

Media reports yesterday described how Immigration officers entered the Atlantis water park through a back gate, and demanded that the head sea lion trainer produce her passport in front of hotel guests.

Despite explaining that she could not do so, the officers escorted her to a vehicle and took her away. It later emerged that while the Immigration Department had denied her work permit in December, the resort had filed and appeal, the outcome of which was pending.

Under such circumstances, expatriate employees are allowed to continue working in the Bahamas until that appeal is determined.

Both Mr Sumner and Mr D’Aguilar said the matter could have been dealt with much more quietly, via meetings and correspondence between Atlantis’s human resources department and Immigration, if concerns had arisen.

Instead, Atlantis’s business operations had been disrupted right in front of its customers, and other Bahamian businesses are concerned that they might be subjected to similar treatment.

“The move yesterday was obviously something we do not support, we do no condone,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business.

“We don’t know what the total circumstances were, but speaking to the face of it, without knowing the intimate details, it’s not something we would encourage - the Immigration Department going on to property and extracting someone the way it was done.”

He added: “We feel, especially with properties like Atlantis, there’s avenues for diplomacy before you get to that stage. We’d encourage the Immigration Department and employers to work these things out in the Boardroom.”

Mr D’Aguilar, meanwhile, told Tribune Business: “If this story is indeed true, I’m absolutely shocked to my core about what Immigration did at Atlantis yesterday......

“There is not a corporate citizen in this country that is as good for the Commonwealth of the Bahamas as Atlantis, and to be treated this way by any arm of government is simply reprehensible.

“Words cannot describe how shocked the business community is by the way Immigration operated at Atlantis yesterday. I have been inundated with phone calls wondering what the hell is going on.”

Mr D’Aguilar added that even if the person in question did not have the proper documents, Atlantis “has earned the right to be treated better than it was treated”.

Acknowledging that this did not allow the Paradise Island resort to break the law, although there was no suggestion this had happened in relation to yesterday’s incident, the Superwash president said the way Atlantis had been "embarrassed” might see it reduce co-operation with the Government.

Referring to previous ministerial pronouncements on work permit policy, Mr D’Aguilar added: “As I predicted, when you have such vitriolic rhetoric coming out of Immigration, it’s going to empower officials to start treating people like dirt.

“This is what the Immigration Department did to Atlantis yesterday, treated them like dirt. When you have all this negative rhetoric against businesses, you empower these bureaucrats to think they have a blank cheque to start treating people like this.”

The businessman added: “You don’t treat your largest single foreign direct investor in the Bahamas in this way. You’re sending the wrong message to the business community, the wrong message to foreign investors and those coming into the country - you’ll be treated like dirt.

“What the Government has to be very careful of is that single act that happened at Atlantis yesterday has caused many people to pause.”

Mr D’Aguilar further explained: “If I’m a domestic investor, do I want to expand my business if I can’t bring in the talent I need? Second, the foreign direct investor, the message is that it’s going to be a rough road, and do I want to go down that road?

“So, in the Government’s attempt to create jobs for the very people they want jobs for, that single incident over there has done more harm than they think.”