Bishop Simeon Hall: Illegal immigrants would not be in The Bahamas in such high numbers without the "complicity of some corrupt persons in authority

Immigration appeal 'may become joke'
tribune242



THE government's appeal for all illegal immigrants to leave the country must be "substantive" or it will become a "joke", Bishop Simeon Hall warned yesterday.

Brent Symonette, acting Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, recently ordered all illegal immigrants residing in the Bahamas to voluntarily leave the country or face immediate deportation.

However, Bishop Hall, senior pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church, said the appeal must not only be given to Haitians and Jamaicans but also to Americans, Europeans and Chinese who he says have "corrupted the system by buying their stay here."

The bishop said: "All persons who compromise the immigration laws of the Bahamas must know that the majority of Bahamians are not prepared for them to have a free ride on the back of those who must work hard every day to build this country."

In the statement, Bishop Hall noted that "it is the government's responsibility to enforce all laws of the Bahamas, especially to protect our national sovereignty. Successive governments have promised during election time to deal with the overwhelming problem of illegal immigration in the country, yet it remains a vexing situation."

Bishop Hall also claimed that illegal immigrants would not be in the country in such high numbers without the "complicity of some corrupt persons in authority."

He added: "Illegal immigrants have corrupted many agencies in our Bahamas and this pronouncement by the Minister must have teeth or it becomes laughable."

August 21, 2010

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