By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING shock in the private sector over an Immigration Department “raid” at Atlantis earlier this week, Baha Mar confirms it had its own Immigration “visit” when five senior engineers at the Sheraton were “detained” by officials on their lunch break.

 Senior vice-president of external and governmental affairs, Robert “Sandy” Sands confirmed the incident to The Tribune, last night, which he said occurred on Wednesday.

“They approached a number of our expatriate staff at one of our hotels, the Sheraton, during the lunch period,” he said.

“But we were able to satisfy the officers – who were

respectful, I want to make that very clear – that we had the necessary paperwork that was in process and approvals etcetera from the Immigration Department.”

The officials did intercept the staff in public view, Mr Sands continued, but “at our urging” officials agreed to “take it to a private location” where the matter was resolved.

“Five were in fact detained, temporarily,” he said, “and upon documentation that we provided were released.” Those five engineers are of American and English nationalities.

“Our position, quite frankly, is that as an investor, Baha Mar certainly supports legal immigration and as a company we are also deeply interested in actively recruiting talented Bahamians to work in various positions throughout the organization,” Mr Sands said.

“The long-term success of our project depends on attracting expatriates whose skill sets contribute to the success of the project or our operating entities and by extension contribute to the long term success of our operation.

“We have to be careful in terms of the manner in which enforcement of the Immigration Department is conducted and we really have to enhance the perception that the government welcomes foreign investment and by extension welcomes those skill sets that are not readily available within the country.”

The country also has to be “very careful” that it does not send signals to investors or potential investors that the country is not investor-friendly, he explained.

“And I honestly believe that we must find the way to be able to improve the whole process of communication between ourselves as customers of the Immigration Department and how we initiate enforcement. Especially in public or in front of tourists in public held areas... This whole questions of handling privately and with sensitivity, I think, is very critical, especially in our sector.”

However, Mr Sands stressed the officials handled the situation at the Sheraton with respect.

“They weren’t high handed; they were respectful,” he said. “But the issue for us is that we believe a number of these things can be handled privately and with sensitivity; and we really, this whole approach of heavy-handedness and the perception of inflexibility does not all go well for us as a destination.

“What is important to note is that every country in the world has some form of legal immigration and has in place, processes to attract skill sets that are not readily available. The Bahamas is no different and so we really have to create a climate that does not inculcate fear in the business community and among potential investors.”

Tuesday’s incident at Atlantis left visitors and employees, both startled and baffled as three Immigration officers disrupted operations at Dolphin Cay to detain and carry off the attraction’s head sea lion trainer.

The Tribune understands that without warning, two uniformed men and one plain-clothes officer marched into the water park through a back gate, found the American citizen in the middle of a guest interaction with sea lions, and demanded that she produce her passport.

When she explained that she did not carry the document to work, the officers escorted her to a government vehicle, put her inside, and drove off without further explanation.

According to well placed sources, Kerzner had applied for a work permit renewal for the employee, but it was denied in December.

The resort then filed an appeal, the results of which are pending – a situation which according to normal immigration procedure, allows an employee to continue working until the matter is resolved.

She was later released after a colleague contacted Immigration and informed them of the appeal.