Why was this child around a pool unsupervised in the first place, and even if he had managed to slip past his guardians and get outside clearly this pool was gated off. SMH!!!!

Now now...as if the world doesn't already have a skewed standard of beauty. You don't need to be tall and slim to be in a beauty pageant...

I understand that but what I am saying is if they are illegal then they shouldn't be in school. Fact is if you show up on the first day of school part of first day procedure should be registration. If you can't prove that you are legally in the country then the Immigration bus will be waiting for you outside the classroom door, and when your parent/s arrive to pick you up they to will be shown the Immigration bus.

Bahamian students born to Bahamian parents are sitting in overcrowded classrooms. There are over 40 students to a class and over 50% of them are Haitians. I read an article the other day where they said over 60% of the students at Anatol Rodgers were Haitians. I would love to know what country other than the Bahamas can you go to where over half your student population are foreign students.

Where was your child born...cases like these are not straight forward and truth be told you have to fight for what you feel is your due. I was born in the Bahamas to a Bahamian mother and an American father in wedlock. I received Bahamian citizenship automatically and then my father applied for my American citizenship so now I hold dual passports. I have a cousin that was born to Bahamian parents in America. She was given American citizenship automatically and her parents applied for Bahamian citizenship, she to holds dual passports.

Point I am trying to make is the immigration laws are not really as cut and dried as the government would have people believe. If there is going to be any chance of redeeming The Bahamas in terms of immigration they need a whole reform of the laws governing citizenship. The Bahamas as for to long attempted to make peace all over and grant treaties and asylum to people of other nationalities. The Americans can come here and by up land and build big homes out in Lyford Cay I don't hear anyone complaining, the Chinese come and open up Wong Tong shops all over I don't hear anyone complaining, but the Haitians come with picky hair and dark skin and suddenly there is a problem.

I am not condoning by any means illegal immigrants being in the Bahamas but I feel that they should make the laws fair. If the Haitians can't come then neither can the Chinese.

She quite possibly is of Haitian descent..Joseph is a common last name.

I don't think the issue is of one parent is a Haitian national, I think it speaks more to if both parents are illegal Haitians and the child is born in the Bahamas, how then does the law govern such cases for the Bahamas. Furthermore, what about children born to parents who have no status because they were born to illegal Haitian parents. Essentially you could end up having generations of undocumented individuals.

I mean what do you expect the Bahamas has only in the last ten years given rights to women in terms of property ownership and citizen rights for their offspring.

Instead of arguing who needs to seek asylum for being gay in Canada they need to focus on upgrading our laws in terms of immigration.

And I keep saying it...these children are attending school. Start requiring documents for school, if you are a legal Bahamian with legal parents then you have nothing to worry about.

I see where your point of view is coming from and in some ways I agree. My only thing these children born to illegal parents are the ones that ultimately suffer. After they have spent their entire childhood in the Bahamas and then when it's time for a meaningful job or to maybe even attend college they are blocked because they have no citizenship. I just think some kind of provisions need to be made for such cases. Maybe possibly look at granted at minimum residency and then later exploring the possibility of citizenship based on merit.

As I previously stated many of these cases can be caught from the primary school level. You don't need to provide any citizenship or permanent residency or legal documentation to attend school. I feel that as a parent of an underage child you should be verified as being legal in the country.

This topic is so broad spectrum and no case is similiar...

Yet you can use said birth certificate to get a passport...and don't tell me it isn't so because I have done it.

Furthermore that isn't "American" view...Germany just signed a law allowing dual citizenship for children of non-EU parents.
Australia automatically grants citizenship at the age of 10 to children of non-Australian parents who have spent most of their life in Australia (I can almost bet these Bahamian born Haitians are not spending any significant portion of their life in Haiti).
In Britain children born to parents who are legally in the country but of non British citizen will be considered citizens.

The point I am trying to make is these children are being born in the Bahamas, attending the schools, marrying Bahamians, and never gaining legal status. That makes no sense...

The school level can help with some of this..when these children come to report to school whether Bahamian, Asian, Jamaican, or Haitian they should be asked to provide some form of documentation. Whether it be a permanent resident card or copies of passports, and when they cannot provide the necessary documents to prove they are in the Bahamas legally then immigration should be called. I am sure they will collect plenty illegal parents that way as well. And force the Immigration dept to come up with a sensible solution to the problem.

This is bs...if you are born in the Bahamas and your are issued a Bahamian birth certificate at birth then your citizenship is Bahamian. There should be no issues as to legalization. Now upon your 18th birthday should you chose to change to the citizenship of your parents then you will apply to that country and depending on their laws regarding dual citizenship you may be required to renounce your Bahamian citizenship. Why do they make everything so difficult?

We so want to be Americanized and first world yet we can't get something so simple as legal citizenship taken care of. You know how many Americans are born to Bahamian parents and end up with dual citizenship. OH!!!! It's because they are Haitian...cause I am sure the Americans born in the Bahamas to American parents don't have this problem.

Why do these girls look as though they are in their mid-twenties early thirties. Way to much for fifteen to nineteen year old girls...SMH!!! Not a very wholesome look...

But good luck to them all.