Thursday, September 30, 2021
By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Tribune Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
SOME Haitians in Inagua have been disorderly while being detained, according to Island Administrator Marlon Leary, who told The Tribune accommodating a large number of migrants has been challenging.
Mr Leary said the situation has brought to light the need for a detention facility in the southernmost island.
It has also been overwhelming for some residents who have expressed concerns that those being detained could escape custody and “take over” the island.
Additionally, there is also a fear of the spread of COVID-19 and cholera. The official said there was currently an outbreak of cholera in Haiti, so health officials were keeping a watchful eye and have separated sick people from those who are healthy.
Mr Leary was contacted yesterday after a video and voice note were shared on social media platforms purportedly giving some insight into the ongoing situation.
In the video, a group of Haitians being held under a tent appeared to be rowdy. A man was heard saying the detainees “run hot, (and) retaliate out here”. A separate voice note claimed residents were overwhelmed.
Asked about it yesterday, the island administrator said both the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and Department of Immigration officers had done a good job bringing order.
“Any time you have a large number of persons you’ll always have persons with lil’ discrepancies or lil’ arguments or whatever and get lil’ riled up, but immigration and defence force, they controlled the situation, and everyone is back to normal right now,” Mr Leary said.
Since last Wednesday, more than 900 Haitians have been apprehended by local officials.
About 500 migrants are said to be detained in Inagua, again raising the issue of needing a detention facility on the small island.
“We don’t have the proper facilities,” Mr Leary told The Tribune. “We have to make use and make do with whatever facilities we have.
“The thing is we don’t have a real detention centre like Nassau, so a detention centre is needed, but we make do with what we have.
“This is a large operation. The migrants have to be processed and they have to be taken before the courts and all that kind of stuff so it’s a lot of work.
He continued: “…It was known prior to this that we need a facility here even though this is probably the most that you would have had at one particular time, but it really highlights even more the need for a facility here. This is the southern border.”
Residents on the island have had mixed feelings about the situation.
According to the administrator, some have expressed fears. Inagua has a population of about 900 residents.
“Some persons have been saying they are afraid the island could be taken over and there could be a shortage of supplies and things like that. Like in any other kind of situation there would be that kind of concern because you see a bunch of persons coming here illegally you have that concern,” he said.
Novelete Turnquest was among those who yesterday said she believed that Inagua could not handle large numbers of migrants.
“It’s never happened before and I don’t think we are in the position to handle it,” Ms Turnquest said yesterday. “We’ve been having migrants for years and it was never to this magnitude so right now you can’t say what could happen from what can’t happen you could only hope for the best.
“Some are in fear, of course. Some of the migrants started to carry on yesterday shouting out and stuff like that and so some people were like it’s getting out of hand. So, there were a few keeping watch in case anything happened and that is to be expected. People want what’s best for Inagua and we are not used to this. We are used to being peaceful people, but if it comes to a place where we have to take things into our own hands, I am quite sure Inagua people are not afraid of it.”
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said the government should do whatever is necessary to help the Haitian nationals who have fled their native land in search of a better life here in The Bahamas.
She said: “I feel that Haitians are humans just like us. Can you imagine what they are going through?
“I feel like the government needs to find a mass of land to give them because they are spending more money having to take them back to Haiti and it’s going to be a problem for a very long time because in the space of one week you see how many of them came to Inagua?
“You can’t help everybody, but help some. They had something with the Haitians singing their national anthem yesterday, but I don’t think it was anything to put fear,” she also said.
The country is experiencing an influx of migrants from Haiti due to increasing social and political turmoil there.
Comments
tribanon says...
Look at what's soon coming to a neighbourhood near you with many diseases in tow like TB, HIV and COVID-19.
They will need food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education for the young, etc. etc. etc. and we will need more law enforcement officers to help fight the increase in crime that follows.
Yup. Davis is going to have to try borrow a whole lot more money from those international lenders than he originally thought.
Posted 30 September 2021, 9:33 a.m. Suggest removal
ThisIsOurs says...
"*you could only hope for the best.*"
Wrong Mrs Turnquest, yiu can do mote than hope for the best. Hoping for the best and not planning has us in the current situation. The govt cannot do it alone. They need to open up to thinking minds to propose a solution. And dont leave it to the usual suspects either, they can be involved but theyre not the only thinkers in country. Set the grounds rules first, state what you are **not** going to do, like round up all Haitian nationals and send them home, say what you will not support, people entering the country illegally. Attack from multiple fronts, the boats entering illegally, the situation in Haiti and the master minds, place big bright lights on the webshops or anyone bringing in an inordinate amount of physical cash. Under those established delimiters start accepting suggestions for a long term solution
Posted 30 September 2021, 9:46 a.m. Suggest removal
GodSpeed says...
> “I feel like the government needs to
> find a mass of land to give them
> because they are spending more money
> having to take them back to Haiti and
> it’s going to be a problem for a very
> long time because in the space of one
> week you see how many of them came to
> Inagua?"
Are you insane woman?
All citizens of Inagua should be required by the government to keep firearms in their home as a last resort against this invasive and unpredictable pest. They keep coming, keep sending them back.
Posted 30 September 2021, 9:51 a.m. Suggest removal
tribanon says...
Most Bahamians don't know that for decades now the armed forces of the Dominican Republic stationed along that country's border with Haiti have had a quiet, almost secret, "shoot to kill" standing order. Successive Dominican governments have had no choice but to maintain such an order as it has proven to be the only means of preventing their nation from being quickly and completely over-ridden by Haitian nationals.
Posted 30 September 2021, 10:44 a.m. Suggest removal
Emilio26 says...
Tribanon I don't think a shoot to kill standing order is a good idea for the Bahamas because it would create a huge controversy. If any of our immigration or defense force officers intentionally shoots an illegal migrant for non reason we all know without a shadow of a doubt that Fred Smith and Louby Georges would raise hell and also factor in the UN would probably sanction us for human rights violation.
Posted 30 September 2021, 11:21 a.m. Suggest removal
tribanon says...
History has shown time and time again that truly desperate situations often result in the need for the least expected and most undesirable of measures to be taken.
For the vast majority of us Bahamians this matter is no longer about our desire to be humane, but rather much more about our survival as a people in a severely under-resourced and struggling small nation.
Our Bahamaland has very limited land area and no financial means to absorb the onging invading force of thousands and thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants. In fact, we are now living at a time when we don't even have the most basic of resources necessary to take care of the many thousands of destitute Bahamians who are jobless, without an adequate education, and with no access to adequate healthcare.
Bluntly put, we don't have the means today to even look after ourselves let alone the steady stream of many thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants coming to our shores.
Posted 30 September 2021, 12:21 p.m. Suggest removal
pacormier says...
Why is this conversation even taking place? The Haitian people are humans just like you. It is not their fault that their country is in turmoil. I have been working in Haiti for 28 years. These people are wonderful. It is the corrupt government and gangs (who are funded by the government) that are causing this huge problem.
Posted 30 September 2021, 2:32 p.m. Suggest removal
GodSpeed says...
>"Why is this conversation even taking place?"
Because we don't want Haitians flooding our country as we can not sustain them, we can barely take care of our own. Nobody says they're not human. 14 million of them, not even half a million of us.
Posted 30 September 2021, 8:24 p.m. Suggest removal
tribanon says...
If it's *"not their fault that their country is in turmoil"*, then just whose fault is it? The French? The Spanish? The British? The US? The Communist Chinese? Bahamians?
What's your damn point and what's it got to do with us Bahamians wanting and needing to protect ourselves from impending annihilation?
Posted 1 October 2021, 11:41 a.m. Suggest removal
bahamianson says...
Take them all, we can absord them. I guess it would be the christian thing to do. We have a lot of land , give them an island . Will that passify them? They will leave that island and go to the next, then the next . What do we do with such an influx? I have no idea, but we are in trouble.
Posted 30 September 2021, 10:11 a.m. Suggest removal
DDK says...
We have been in trouble for a long time, now we are in MEGA TROUBLE!
Like the U.S. has recently done, we have been sending the wrong signals for years. We cannot afford to keep them or to send them back. Bit of a quandary, n'est-ce pas?
Posted 30 September 2021, 1:21 p.m. Suggest removal
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