By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HAITIAN Bahamians yesterday claimed that the minority group has been unfairly stigmatised for political gain and said misinformation about the government’s new immigration policies is rampant.

Residents in two separate shanty towns on New Providence explained that very little information was known about the new regulations that have fuelled fears of mass deportation, and heightened tensions within the migrant community. While most people interviewed by The Tribune said that they welcomed new initiatives as a solution to curb illegal immigration, they argued that the new policies should not be applicable to persons who have already started the naturalisation process.

Several people called for greater political representation of the Haitian Bahamian community in a bid to ensure that concerns related to the new changes – particularly its impact on children – are addressed.

Nastasha Philisnor, 23, said: “I don’t feel like they dealt with this situation fairly, they never gave us no time. The first time I heard about this was in October and then they tried to put it as November 1, (which) ain’t make no sense. That don’t give me no time because when you go to the passport place to get your documents together, you have to get so much things in order to get anything started, so that time, between two months, don’t make no sense.”

“I didn’t come to Nassau on a plane and I didn’t come on no boat,” she said.

“I came through a woman.

“You know what makes the Bahamas?

“The Bahamian, that’s you and that’s me.

“I don’t know anything about Haiti, the government of Haiti cannot speak to me or speak for me.”

Ms Philisnor added: “My (prime minister) is Perry Christie whether he likes it or not, I’m a Bahamian. Too much immigrants on the island, period. If the Haitians came here illegally, carry them home. They business home.”

Ms Philisnor said that she spent time in orphanages, and the Willamae Pratt Centre, and has never travelled outside the country because of her status.

While she has a certificate of identity and an affidavit that allows her to work, the 23-year-old said that she has not started her naturalisation process because key documents needed were used to submit her sister’s application.

She said the government should have given a six-month timeline to implement the new policy.

“I’m still trapped,” she said, “my thing is I feel this whole thing started because of our economy.

“Every time the economy is down the government tries to find an excuse, the excuse is not the immigrants, the excuse is the people in government who are not doing their job and they’re trying to put it down on somebody else.

“Yes, let all the (illegal) Haitian people go home that’s where they belong, but the ones who were born here you have to do something with them and a Haitian passport isn’t the answer.”

Several new immigration policies came into effect this month.

The measures were announced in the House of Assembly on September 17 by Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell.

One new initiative mandates that everyone living in the Bahamas must have a passport of their nationality.

It has also been mandated that persons who are applying for a work permit without legal status will need to be certified by a local embassy or nearest Bahamas mission in their home country.

Certificates of identity issued to people born to foreign parents legally residing in the Bahamas will not be renewed, instead a passport of their nationality with a resident stamp will be required.

Heleen Gelin, a 25-year-old Nassau Village resident, said: “For me the children are my biggest concern.

“If they go in the United States and have a child automatically that’s a Bahamian American, so why if we born here we can’t have no rights in the country?”

She said it did not make sense for people who have started the naturalisation to be required to have a passport of their nationality.

“They should at least do it (the new policy) for people who are coming now, so people will stop having so much children. The people who have already applied, I don’t think it’s supposed to be for them.”

Ms Gelin, a mother of two young children, said that she submitted her application for citizenship last year. She admitted that she did not apply earlier because she did not think that she would stay in the country, given the high level of discrimination.

However, Ms Gelin said she was advised to start the naturalisation process in a bid to secure documents for her children.

“The community needs to speak,” she said. “If they don’t speak for the Haitian Bahamians who will speak for them? All these young people in churches, and in groups, just because they have their passport it doesn’t mean they can’t help others.”

She added: “This is a generation thing, I think they should go have a march or parade, something and take pictures.

“If it goes worldwide maybe the United Nations or other nations will come together and say something because this is not making any sense.”

Last night, United Association of Haitians and Bahamians (UHAB) President Rev Antoine St Louis confirmed that the organisation is in the process of crafting recommendations to the Bahamas government over the new policies, and their impact on people born in the Bahamas to Haitian parents.