You have said this repeatedly, but do you know for a fact that the boats are simply tied up? They could be disabled or not enough officers, which all tie back to resources. Certainly if they are tied up for no good reason that should be exposed. The problems presented by illegal immigration requires multi-pronged solutions. Documenting those that are already here is important. How else do you identify who is eligible to stay versus those that are not? I dont view any policy aimed at curbing the problem as a distraction, as long as it is implemented. Only then can we assess its success or faiilures.Policies can be ammended, but doing nothing is insane.

It is not a fix for better patrolling the seas, no. More boats and RBDF officers are needed for that. It is not a fix for administration issues at PMH or in social services dept. Nobody said that it was. This is a possible solution to documenting immigrants which is the first step in correcting past errors. I am not psychic, hence I have only offered that I support this policy as ground zero for addressing illegal immigration. The politicians who have been featured in this paper have offered no alternatives, and nor did the poster who claimed to have a "quick and essy" fix.

Banker, what is his personal opinon on Bahamians? I am not sure which set of comments validate his opinion on Bahamians as the responses have been quite diverse. Is it validating that the majority of Bahamians are on board with curbing the illegal immigration crisis? That is the truth. Also, this quick and easy fix that has eluded all but you, please share. Otherwise, cryptic messages have no value in a forum intended to encourage discussion.

So he is an ambitious politician? Gained vocal detractors? We already knew this. His political ambitions at the cost of bringing some order to the chaos of illegal immigration sounds like a fair trade off to me.

Illegal immigrant parents not registering their children at birth, as is the requirement, is why we have this mess.

It is still a valid platform, and locating platforms to drive their campaigns is what politicians do. If he follows through with the will of the majority of the people which is to implement these policies, then he would have earned the success that is sure to follow. If he backs down like others before him, then he backed himself needlessly into a corner. Contrary to what certain parties want us to believe, it is possible to be pro human rights without supporting illegal immigration.

Were it that simple. If you have a group of poor, non-black illegal immigrants who overwhelm the country as much as Haitians please share. Then we can make an honest comparison. The Bahamas cannot afford to continue to allow illegal immigration to go unchecked and is well within it's right to force people to document their presence when they refuse to for their own self serving reasons.

Since the letter is entitled "Citizens in Waiting" and it asserts an automatic transition to legal citizen status, ispeakthetruth was correct in pointing out this citizenship fact. Article 7 paragraph 1 on the rights of the child also states: "The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents." All children whether of Haitian or Bahamian descent will be required to have the necessary documents in order to register for school. The fact that illegal Haitians are now in a quandary are their own doing. After years of benefiting from loopholes and inaction on the part of the Bahamian government, they are finally being tasked with doing the right thing.

I guess we see what we want to see. It sounds like Fred Mitchell gets it, and he is not about to bow to the hysterical crowds. I wish the ministry much success in getting this policy implemented in time for the 2015 Fall semester.

Thank you for the link, specifically articles 28 and 29 which apply to educating "the child." I see nothing that changes my opinion on this matter as the government is not denying children access to education while in the country. If that is what comes of the government's attempt to account for who is in the country, it is again the fault of the Haitian parents who want to continue to skirt responsibilty for the fact that they are illegal residents and should be subject to deportation. At some point, it is necessary for the Bahamas to have a reliable count of how many immigrants, legal and otherwise, are in the country. In a previous response, you talk about granting citizenship here and there for this reason and that reason. How can the government identify such persons when there is no record of them? Haitians want it their way or no way. The fact that any exercise to document illegals will result in large groups of Haitians being legalized is not enough for them because large groups of Haitians will also be identified for deportation. The Bahamian government has to take a tough stance and I hope they stay the course.