By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

Business leaders yesterday lined up to caution the government over threats of financial penalties if they are caught employing illegal immigrants.

Edison Sumner, Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employer Confederation (BCCEC) CEO said while companies should comply with the law the government should remember businesses shoulder the weight of the economy.

He was joined by Arawak Port Development (APD) CEO and BCCEC Chairman Mike Maura who said the Minnis administration’s latest warning to employers about hiring undocumented immigrants was “establishing fear” in the minds of business owners.

However, he too was adamant there should be no excuse for any business to hire illegal employees.

The business community spoke out the day after Immigration Minister Brent Symonette warned employers had the remainder of this week to send all illegal workers home while at the same time signalling the government’s “aggressive” campaign to clamp down on private businesses in the coming days.

He said anyone found employing illegal migrants will face a fine and criminal sentencing before the courts.

Mr Sumner responded: “We heard the announcement by the minister advising businesses to be cautious or careful about who they hire and to ensure that they are not hiring persons who are not documented or operating here legally. We sent out a notice to our members before on this matter to ensure that they comply with the rule of law.

“That’s still our admonition to our members and the business community to ensure that they are operating within the confines of the law. Until we have an opportunity to make amendments to the law we are going to be acting as responsible businesspersons and asking for businesses to comply.”

He continued: “The other aspect of that though was the announcement that employers who find themselves in non-compliance may face fines and the rest of it. While that may be good from a regulatory standpoint, I think we have to be careful about talking about fees and penalties right now when the business sector is trying to hold the economy together and trying to keep their businesses operating in what may be challenging times for many. We continue to have meetings with the minister and very active engagement with his ministry.

“We want to encourage our members to be compliant with the law and not hire persons who you are not certain are documented persons in the country. If you have a challenge with it we would suggest you do the reasonable thing and make an application or work permits for these individuals and let the government provide the necessary approvals to hire and engage these persons. Based on our discussion with the government, the minister and others we expect the entire process of work permit applications to improve quite significantly in the shorter term rather than the long term.”

For his part, Mr Maura said this situation must be looked at carefully.

“I don’t think there is any excuse for a business, you should know who works for you, period. That said I think it is incumbent upon the government to be humane in this process and recognise that this is not as simple as one big broom and you just sweep everybody. It has to be looked at carefully,” Mr Maura said.

“I think that to be able to be trusted through the process as a government and for the citizens to be able to make the application for someone and have a fair opportunity to address the situation, because I think to create and establish fear in the minds of both business owners and home owners that may be employing someone, all that does is cause people to get a bigger rock to hide the issue. Hopefully the government will approach it the right way.”

In the aftermath of the government’s December 31 deadline for all illegal immigrants to leave the country voluntarily or face aggressive pursuit and deportation, Mr Symonette said on Tuesday there are also plans to make the penalties for those who break the law more stringent.

“So we’ll continue aggressively this year starting on every nationality who is here,” Mr Symonette said. “Those persons from whichever country they came from who have not regularised themselves have had their time to regularise themselves and the natural consequences will flow.

“As I announced on January 1, we are also going to enforce a rule that is on the books that employers who employ persons illegally will also be prosecuted. Up to now we have tended to not deal with that so now for instance (this applies to) building sites (and) business houses so on and so forth. Those owners should make sure that this week they send those persons home or else they face a fine and criminal sentence.

“We talk about criminal sentences and a lot of people take this very lightly but you know when you go to get your US visa and you have a criminal record, we all know what happens. “So I really implore employers to ensure that they take this seriously because it will be a new issue.”

He added: “On another point, we are looking at and we probably will later this year increase the penalties for employers hiring illegal immigrants and that’ll follow. I will say at this point that this is not targeted at any particular nationality, it is targeted across the board. So whether you’re a banker or a gardener, a landscaper, whatever industry you’re in will be targeted right across the board.”

However, those who have begun the process to regularise employees have nothing to fear, once the receipt of this process is presented, he said.

He said the government will also look at ways to beef up detecting repeat offenders, meaning those who repeatedly enter the country illegally despite deportation.