Speaking of farfetched comments...

Were you there?

Before some of the more radical commenters try to goad me into a back and forth over the facts and issues involved please don't waste your time. Besides some of the comments are so farfetched they don't require a response.

Mr. Ferguson?

No he wasn't. Read below. And by the way she did have a debit card.

continued..

This was a traumatic experience for Jesika and myself. Jesika is a soft-spoken , sweet, gentle, vulnerable woman. To be tossed into a prison in a foreign country for reasons you cannot understand not knowing what was going to happen to you was simply horrible. And for those who think somehow my behavior was not up to par please imagine how you would feel if you found out that your girlfriend, wife, sister, mother or daughter were subjected to that same treatment. Imagine if you were not allowed to see them or speak to them. Imagine if you were not being given any reasonable reasons why she was not being released. How would you feel? How would you react?

I also want to address some comments alluding to there being something special about coming to the Bahamas and visa restrictions in the USA. Yes, we specifically chose the Bahamas for a couple of reasons. First, because they do not have a visa requirement for Brazilian citizens. To vacation in the USA Jesika would have had to apply for a US tourist visa and fly from Natal to either Rio or Recife for a 2 day visa interview. We wanted to avoid the time, expense and uncertainty of that visa process. If the Bahamas wants to screen tourists visiting the country based on income and assets then it should institute a visa application process so that tourists seeking to enter the country know beforehand whether they qualify for entry based on their income and assets. The first time that tourists finds out that the country has a concern about their income or assets should not be after they have spent thousands of dollars on plane tickets and traveled thousands of miles for hours to get here. That is a trap for the unwary tourist that a rogue immigration official can use when he decides to detain a tourist for some arbitrary reason. Further, it is not the law. Again, to be clear, the Bahamian immigration act does not require anyone entering the country to have a single dollar on their person. That excuse was a fabrication of the law.

The second reason we chose the Bahamas is because I was bringing my dog with me. Because I did not want to make him fly to the island in cargo I decided to take advantage of the ferry from Ft. Lauderdale to avoid that problem. Interestingly he had no problem with immigration or customs upon arrival even though he had no money on him??

Finally, I want to emphasize that we don’t mean to indict the people of the Bahamas by making this story public. Once we got past the immigration Gestapo the people here have been nothing short of wonderful to us and very sympathetic to our experience with immigration (with the exception of some of the comments here). To those people we say thank you.

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Jesika was put through this ordeal even though she had told the truth and was in compliance with the entry requirements. We know this to be true because those same immigration officials who put her in prison gave her entry into the country based on the exact same information she had provided to them upon arrival in Nassau the day before. Further, they allowed me entry into the country based on the exact same information. Was she erroneously profiled by immigration officials because she is a single, attractive young woman whom they initially thought was travelling alone? Did those officials then fabricate a requirement for entry into the Bahamas as a reason to detain her? Whatever their reason for initially detaining her there is no excuse for their behavior after she told them the truth. They should have verified the information if they had any doubt and they refused to do so. That they continued to detain her after I verified what she told them is beyond comprehension. In my opinion solely out of sheer arrogance and ego they refused to verify that she was telling the truth and once they realized that they had made a terrible mistake they refused to admit that mistake. People like that should not be immigration officers with the the power to arrest and detain. An officer with an ounce of common sense and decency would have and could have taken several other reasonable steps before taking the extreme step of incarcerating her if they had any concern about her entry. They could have:
• Called me;
• Called the owner of the villa;
• Allowed her entry subject to later verification;
• Limited the time of entry for a day or two based on the money on hand and later verification;
• Had an immigration officer investigate in Freeport at the villa;
• Had an immigration officer escort her to the villa to ensure she was staying there;
• Allowed her access to the internet to call me;
• Mr. Gordan could have called Mr. Ferguson after talking to me and reversed course;
• Mr Gordan could have called Mr. Ferguson after seeing me and reversed course;
• Mr. Pratt could have ordered her release;
• Mr Pratt could have called Mr. Ferguson to order her release;
• Mr. Pratt could have order Mr. Gordan to call Mr. Ferguson to order her release;
• Etc etc etc

Instead of any of these reasonable options they deprived Jesika of her freedom and diginity.

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The next morning I met with Mr. Ferguson. He could not have been more arrogant. He suggested that she wasn’t released because I had gone over his head to Mr. Pratt. He was not happy with this at all. After several more back and forth discussions regarding the facts and the actual law regarding entry into the Bahamas (and a reference to Fox News’ would be interest in this story) he told me that Jesika would be released. Jesika was brought to the airport from the detention center without being told what was going to happen to her. They didn’t tell her that I was there waiting for her. They stamped her passport and told her that she was free to go with no further comment. Nor did anyone from Immigration tell me where she was being released and how to find her upon being released. She just happened to wander downstairs looking for an outlet to charge her phone and saw me.

I can understand many of the questions above wondering why immigration acted this way. We have the same questions and many more:

o Why didn’t Mr. Ferguson contact me to verify the information Jesika gave him?
o Why didn’t Mr. Ferguson contact the owners of the villa to verify the information Jesika gave him (after Mr. Gordan spoke to Mr. Pratt they did call the owners to verify the information)?
o Why didn’t Mr. Ferguson allow Jesika access to the internet to contact me?
o After I contacted Mr. Gordan and explained everything why didn’t he release her?
o Why did Mr. Gordan refuse to contact Mr. Ferguson?
o Did Mr. Gordan contact Mr. Ferguson and was he told to continue to detain her anyway? If so, why?
o After I told Mr. Gordan that I was on my way to Nassau why did he send Jesika to the prison anyway (it is not required by law that anyone detained be sent to the prison)?
o Why didn’t Mr. Gordan tell Jesika I was on my way to Nassau?
o After I arrived in Nassau why didn’t Mr. Gordan release her?
o After I arrived why didn’t Mr. Gordan contact Mr. Ferguson if he needed permission to release her (not that there was before but by this time there was no dispute that they had made a terrible mistake)?
o Why wasn’t I allowed to speak to her at the prison?
o Why wasn’t I allowed to see her at the prison?
o After expressing doubt as to the validity of her detention why didn’t Mr. Pratt order her release?
o Why didn’t they tell Jesika that I was at the airport after she was released and where I was?
o What is happening with the other women who are being detained at the prison (Jesika said there are some who have been there for months)?

We don’t have the answers to any of these questions.

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I finally got Mr. Pratt on the phone. I previously told Mr. Gordan that I was in touch with Mr. Pratt regarding the matter. Mr.Gordan said that if Mr. Pratt ordered her to be released he would do so. As the story states I explained to Mr. Pratt what was happening. He did not understand why she had been detained and stated that they could release her if they wanted. I explained that Mr. Gordan wanted and order from him. Mr. Pratt then asked to speak Mr. Gordan. After a long conversation behind closed doors Mr. Gordan came out and informed me that Mr. Pratt would not order her to be released. He told me that I had to come back the next morning and speak to Mr. Ferguson. I sent several more texts to Mr . Pratt begging him to help me. He never responded.

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Although I asked Mr. Gordan to tell Jesika that I was on my way to Nassua (and he agree to do so) he did not tell her. Also, instead of keeping Jesika at the airport until I arrived she was sent to the detention center (which is essentially a prison). As she puts it, there she was treated like an animal. They took her possessions. They put her through a booking process similar to that which a criminal would go through. In front of a mob of howling men they put her up against a wall and frisked her. They put her in a room with dozens of other women filled with cockroaches and rats. There were fights breaking out among the women. She was not allowed to speak. Jesika was in this prison with no idea that I was in Nassau to get her out and no idea what was going to happen to her next. I was not allowed to speak to her at the prison nor was I allowed to see her at the prison.

In the meantime as the story states I was able to obtain contact Mr. William Pratt who is the director of Immigration for the Bahamas. The Immigration Act gives Mr. Pratt carte blanche to allow anyone entry into the Bahamas “notwithstanding any other provision” of the Act. I was given his cell phone number by a very helpful officer of tourism for the Bahamas while I was waiting for my flight in Ft. Lauderdale. I called Mr. Pratt while in Ft. Lauderdale and left a message for him explaining the situation. I also sent him a text message. Here is that text:

"Mr. Pratt. My name is Paul Donovan. I am an attorney from Boston. My girlfriend Jesika DeOliviera is being held in the immigration detention center in Nassau. We were supposed to meet in Freeport before she was detained. I am about to get on a flight to Nassau. I have whatever documentation you require to satisfy all immigration requirements. Please allow her release to me tonight upon my proof of funds and whatever else you need. I am desperate to gain her release this evening. She is travelling alone and is very scared. Please respond. Thank you in advance."

He did not immediately respond. When I arrived in Nassau and I tried to convince Mr. Gordan to release Jesika or at least to call Mr. Ferguson so that he would order her release. He refused (arrogantly). I sent Mr . Pratt another text:

"Mr. Pratt I am in Nassau. They are refusing to help me. Please help me."