soon we will require non bahamians to get a numbered arm tatoo and wear a little blue patch on there shirts. this sounds like germany during world war two.

...or perhaps a passport. Sounds like most modern, democratic countries to me.

Facile perhaps Speakthetruth, but you know that those persons who were born here of immigrant parents (legal or not) cannot get a passport from their parents' country of origin. You can feel smug implying that this requirement is no big deal, but in effect it makes persons who under Bahamian law are entitled to Bahamian citizenship, into stateless outlaws, through no fault of their own. Hope you feel good supporting such a policy.

This all goes back to the fact that The Bahamas needs a balanced approach to immigration. What do we want our country to look like in the years to come.

Canada, for example gives university graduates the right to work in Canada for two years after they leave university. After the two years they can apply for residency and soon thereafter citizenship. So they want, and will have, a well educated population capable of good earnings, high tax payments to their Public Treasury and little burden on the Social Services.

The question is what do we want? Once we know, and only then, can we start putting the plan into effect.

This knee jerk stop gap foolishness does us no good and solves nothing.

Even Canada is changing its immigration policy towards Haitians. Your comparison of the opportunities for foreign college students who enter Canada (or the US) legally for an education that they likely pay for, to 12 years of free education for illegal immigrant students is not a balanced comparison. Countries more established than The Bahamas are having to come up with new solutions to illegal immigration and quick. Call it knee jerk, but both short term and long term plans need to be put in place.

Any suggestions as to how we should proceed?

For example, the first thing is to improve how the Bahamas Defence Force interdicts the vessels coming out of Haiti. The object being to stem the flow of the largest source of illegal immigrants.

Secondly we may wish to set out a criteria for what various categories of immigrants would have to meet to either get a work permit, a residents permit, or citizenship.

These persons would then need to be registered with National Insurance.

Then there will be those who will have a limited time to repatriate themselves and others who we will deport to their respective countries.

The process must be transparent.

We may find Fred and his activists annoying, but it is because they remind that we as a country have, over the years, screwed up immigration. We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this mess.

Whist I understand generalcrazy's frustration, I would argue that we need to take it out on those who have created the mess and not Fred and his activists.

We need an Inquiry as to how we got here, who was responsible, what went wrong, and how do we fix it.

Fred has moved past that "thin" line between sane and insane long time ago!! For a lawyer he sure does talk foolishness like a child!!! If we are so wrong. . .LET HIM TAKE HIS CASE BEFORE THE UNHRC. . .OAS OR EVEN AI. . .or even our court!!

There is a big difference. Most of those countries kept track of their illegals, they didn't just sit back, do nothing and then wine and complain.

Those countries have much larger legal immigrant populations (on a percentage basis) than The Bahamas.

We need to stop the inflow from Haiti by getting our Defence Force boats at sea instead of being tied up and then legalize those that we should have dealt with over the years.

Unless we stop the inward flow, nothing we do will work.

Almost too little, too late. Many countries have problems with illegal immigrants and even with legal ones. YouTube is full of documentaries about Muslims in Europe, etc., wanting to change their host countries to suit their standards.
Here where so many people and businesses have come to depend upon the labour pool supplied by immigration both legal and illegal, it will be very difficult to disengage from such dependence.
However, when one recognizes that different cultures based upon a history and a language different from your own will tend to resist assimilation into the host country there is cause for concern. All the vacant land in the Bahamas should appear very tempting to persons from Haiti and from China for that matter. If nothing is done about the flood of immigration in a firm and organized manner there won't be a Bahamas to remember except as exhibits in some future museum.

Fred Mitchell is doing the right thing. Nowhere else in the world can children just mysteriously appear out of nowhere and walk into a public school.

Haitians cannot get free education in Haiti.

What makes Fred Smith think the Bahamas is obligated to provide free education to his people?

Amazing that Immigration did not make an investigation of the Government School records as they are a great place to start to see who is illegal.

Someone must come and pick them up from school. A polite friendly conversation would reveal much.

But that requires a real immigration policy - But after forty years we still have no idea of what we are doing.

But hey, "I am Bahamian", so anything I do is justified.

They need to dispense with all these policies and just make them law. Let's see how QC Fred will deal with it then.

I think that you would find Mr. Smith would not be saying anything if we created a sensible policy and put it into the law of the land.

The problem is that we are a rudderless ship when it comes to immigration, and this leaves the Bahamas open to criticism. A criticism that is justified as we don't know what we are doing.