BY DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE two Cuban men who were released from prison last week under a Supreme Court Justice’s order are believed to be attempting to illegally enter the United States, according to the Department of Immigration.

Speaking on Grand Bahama on Friday, Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell said they are actively seeking to re-arrest Carlos Pupo and Lazaro Scara Marin.

The men, who were deemed a “national security risk” and imprisoned for four years, were last sighted in Bimini, according to Minister Mitchell.

“We do not know where they are; the last sighting the Director of Immigration had they were in Bimini...and we know where they are headed. So we notified the authorities in Bimini and the US government that there may be an attempt by these people to smuggle themselves into the US,” he said.

Mr Mitchell claimed that one of the men has been deported twice before from the Bahamas for smuggling, and alleged that the other was also involved in smuggling people to the US from Andros and had some experience in the Cuban military.

Mr Mitchell said that since the men’s release he has been advised that they can be re-arrested and the department is now searching for them.

“During the past weeks there had been quite vigorous debate on the question of the immigration of the Bahamas surrounding the court-ordered release of two Cuban nationals, who are still being searched for by the Department of Immigration,” he said.

The men, according to the minister, posed a security risk at the Detention Centre. Mr Mitchell claimed they had tried to burn it down and were instigating riots. He explained that a decision was made to remove them from the centre to the prison where they could be “safely and more carefully watched”.

He further stressed that the government, through the Immigration Department, will continue to defend the country’s borders by its strict immigration policy.

“We will continue to try and defend our borders to ensure that those who live here and those who have the right to live and work here are actually within the Bahamian borders, and to enforce immigration laws in such a way that it excludes those persons who are a risk to our country,” he said.

Mr Mitchell said they continue to be vigilant concerning those who come here lawfully and those who come unlawfully.

“You will notice there have been a number of arrests recently in Grand Bahama, and this confirms to the public that it is becoming an increasing pattern of people coming lawfully into the Bahamas, fly to Grand Bahama or Bimini, and then proceeding to make their way to the US.

“This is one of the reasons why immigration policies as they are now are to become stricter so we can know who is in the Bahamas, because we have an obligation for countries who are adjacent to the Bahamas to say who is here, because we do not want them to pose a risk to countries adjacent to us,” Mr Mitchell said.

“It has always been assumed and it is still our view that the Immigration Department has the sole discretion as to who can land and who can’t land as a visitor. Now we have a situation where it appears the court is substituting its judgment for the Department of Immigration, so this is becoming a point of some contention, and I think the Office of Attorney General is acting on our behalf to have the matter clarified.”