By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

AMID rising tensions over the country’s illegal immigration issues, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said he has asked religious leaders why the church has not been more “forthright” in seeking to ease emotions over the matter.

While delivering his contribution to the mid-year budget debate yesterday, Mr Mitchell expressed concern about the rhetoric being spread about immigration, noting that it could lead to violence and discord in society.

 His comments came as a group has escalated calls for more to be done to address what they term to be an “immigration crisis” and also the growing shanty town problem.

 At the weekend, a group, led by Lincoln Bain, went to a shanty town attempting to tear down the structures that they claimed were built on land reportedly being leased to a retired civil servant.

 Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander during a press conference Wednesday urged shanty town landowners to wait for the government to act before taking matters into their own hands.

 Yesterday, Mr Mitchell said: “The Roman Catholic Archbishop again, I saw him at a function, and I had asked him the other day why the church has not been more forthright in seeking to tamp down the issues that are being whipped up which may lead to violence and discord in our society over these immigration matters.

 “Even though, you heard the minister speak yesterday, there is a careful balance that has to be struck in this country about what we are saying and how evocative we are being so that it does not lead to discord in the society and we cannot get the reputation of the country that is engaged in this kind of talk which leads to intolerance and discrimination.

 “The fact is there are 400,000 Bahamians. There are seven million people who come here every year. We do not have the labour that’s as plain as day. We do not have the labour to be able to service the seven million people and so one of the issues we have to face is how is our immigration policy going to be managed.”

 Mr Mitchell said the fact of the matter is many Haitian vessels spotted in Bahamian waters are trying to get to the US and asserted in Parliament that “we can talk ourselves into a crisis or we can have faith in our institutions,” which he said are functioning well.

 The minister also defended his colleagues’ recent travel to Haiti, saying while CARICOM knows that it can’t solve the nation’s problems, it understands that it needs to have insight on what is happening down there.

 In fact, following the delegation’s visit to Haiti, Mr Mitchell said two things were realised.

 “One is the view that the Haitian National Police will get the support which it requires from the international community. This includes armoured carriers. This includes additional weapons. This includes training … and we are not talking about boots on the ground,” he said.

 “And secondly, we ought to know that notwithstanding Haiti’s position as the poorest country in the region, these are very proud people, and no one wants you to come in their country and tell them what to do.

 “The Haitian prime minister when he was here spoke to his colleagues and apologised to his colleagues for two things, for the problems which are ensuing in this hemisphere as a result of the poverty and deprivation in Haiti and secondly, for the refugee issue.”

 Mr Mitchell said it was in the country’s best interest to help bring a resolution to the issues in Haiti, adding “that’s why we’re engaged”.