By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

IN the face of global terrorism concerns, St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman yesterday urged the government to explain what it is doing to secure the country’s borders.

“The national security threat of illegal immigration is not something new to Bahamians,” Mr Chipman, the Free National Movement shadow minister of foreign affairs and immigration, said in a statement yesterday. “The issue raises humanitarian concerns such as the exploitation of migrants and the deaths of many migrants, often drowned at sea or who die from dehydration and other causes during dangerous sea voyages.

“The global increase in terrorist activity and attacks raise added concerns about border security, especially for a far-flung archipelagic nation such as the Bahamas. The government should generally advise the Bahamian people how it is enhancing border security. Given the government’s poor and sluggish response in the aftermath of Hurricane Joaquin, Bahamians are rightly concerned about the Christie administration’s ability to prepare and to respond to various threats, whether natural disasters or otherwise. What Bahamians want to know is what the government is doing to protect our borders.”

In response, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell said the government is doing what needs to be done as resources permit, suggesting that if genuinely concerned, the FNM should be more vocal against organisations like the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA) which has challenged the government’s immigration actions on legal and humanitarian grounds.

In a statement to The Tribune yesterday, Mr Mitchell said: “The Bahamian public can rest assured that as far as immigration matters are concerned all that is required to be done and as our resources permit, all the matters are being attended to. It is curious that I have been saying what I have said for over a year but now this becomes an issue. Some of the opposition’s efforts might be employed in trying to keep some of these loony tunes who claim to have the immigrant community at heart from providing cover for these illegal activities on the immigration front.”

Nonetheless, Mr Chipman questioned whether the government is making adequate use of its resources, such as the multi-million dollar fleet of Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) vessels bought last year.

“Last week Fred Mitchell suggested during an address at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta that the problem of illegal migration has in various ways, surpassed the drug trade as a legal and security issue,” he said. “He also noted the role of criminal networks in the migration issue. Bahamians have been aware for quite some time of the threat posed by the transport of migrants to the Bahamas, with the accompanying issues of the trafficking of illicit drugs and guns, which help to fuel criminal violence, something the PLP has failed to stem as the country has now recorded a new murder rate.

“When last in office, the FNM conducted an extensive planning exercise which led to the development of plans for the modernization of the marine capability of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF). With the purchase of new marine vessels for the RBDF, are these assets being effectively deployed at strategic locations in the southern Bahamas to track and to stem the number of vessels transporting illegal immigrants?”

Mr Chipman questioned why Haitian vessels are still able to make their way to the country given all the resources the government is said to have at its disposal to counteract illegal immigration.

“The FNM also made significant infrastructural upgrades at Ragged Island to help protect our southern border. Four years after the PLP came to office, have these upgrades been completed and fully utilized? “There is also a RBDF base at Inagua. How effectively are facilities at Inagua and Ragged Island being utilised to stem illegal immigration through our southern border? The objective should be to apprehend illegal immigrants before they get beyond Inagua and Ragged Island.”

Mr Chipman added: “Minister Mitchell noted the sophisticated criminal networks involved in the trafficking of migrants. These traffickers should be vigorously prosecuted and severely punished when caught. The Bahamas should also increase, in collaboration with other governments, its intelligence gathering in the area of migration, at home and in Haiti, the source of most illegal immigration to the Bahamas. We must also check how any criminal networks are operating in the Bahamas, and whether there is high-level, official or unofficial corruption and complicity with these networks, including the harbouring of immigrants, the acceptance of bribes and the laundering of funds.

“With the need for even greater vigilance of our borders because of global realities and the high level of domestic crime, the Bahamian people need greater assurance of what the government is doing to defend and protect the Bahamas from multiple national security threats.”