By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE two Cuban men released from prison last month after nearly three years in custody may be sent back to the correctional facility if they are caught by immigration officials, Minister of Immigration and Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell said yesterday.

At a press conference at the Department of Immigration, he said his ministry is still “actively seeking” to rearrest Carlos Pupo Mendoza and Lazaro Seara Marin.

Mr Mitchell said the men do not have landed status in the Bahamas, have no right to be here and are violating immigration laws. He reiterated that the men are considered a national security risk and said an all points bulletin (APB) will be issued if immigration officers do not find them soon.

If the men are caught, Mr Mitchell said they might be sent back to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services if they are still viewed as security risks at the Detention Centre until the government finds a country willing to take the migrants.

“If these people are found they will be rearrested and dealt with according to law, they do not have a landed status in the Bahamas,”

Mr Mitchell said.

“We consider them a security risk and it is clear if you examine their record, I believe one of the individuals was deported from this country twice, another was (allegedly) found trying to smuggle people into the United States off Andros and the two of them were causing incitement in the Detention Centre and (allegedly) trying to burn the place down.

“That’s the reason they were sent to prison so that they will be in a more secure facility and the narrative is clear that we attempted, because they were not wanted back in the United States and not wanted in Cuba their home country and no third country that we knew of, and that we approached, wanted to take them. They were simply being held there until that matter could be settled.

“Just as recently as this morning (Monday), the immigration director spoke with his people in Bimini and someone suggested that one of them may have been seen in the last 24 hours and so they are out trying to find them and that will continue. We cannot be in a position where this country and its government is seen as colluding with people to smuggle themselves into the United States.

“How can we do that? I would suggest they be kept at the Detention Centre in the first instance because it is a migrant infraction but if there are other infractions or if they cause security issues again then they have to go back to prison because it is a secure facility.”

When asked why the men were not charged with attempted arson if authorities believe they tried to burn the Detention Centre, Mr Mitchell said the matter was “not that simple.”

“There is a general view when dealing with migrant issues that you try to avoid criminal charges because the basic assumption is that people are seeking to escape to a better life, so usually the way you deal with it is expel the people from the country.

“If it had been something very gross in the sense of murder or serious assault you might look at it again but not when you are dealing with property damage. That has generally been the policy applied up to this point,” Mr Mitchell said.

Last Wednesday in the House of Assembly, Prime Minister Perry Christie said the government “was caught between a rock and a hard place” as it petitioned several countries to accept the men during their imprisonment.

These countries included the United States, Cuba, Panama and Sweden.

On February 18, Supreme Court Senior Justice Stephen Isaacs ordered the release of Marin and Mendoza from the Department of Correctional Services. According to their lawyer Fred Smith, QC, the Cubans were unlawfully detained for nearly three years and were never charged or tried in court.