By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
A
FLORIDA lawmaker of Haitian descent vowed yesterday to stop at nothing
until tourists and international businesses boycott this country because
of controversial immigration policies that came into effect on November
1.
Daphne
Campbell, Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives,
spoke in Florida about the matter during a press conference broadcast on
Channel 7 news yesterday.
At
one point during the conference, she exclaimed: “Boycott Bahamas!
Boycott Bahamas to end discrimination against Haitian children!”
Proclaiming
to be a “voice for the voiceless,” Mrs Campbell later told this
newspaper that she took her position after seeing a video showing
Haitian children facing deportation to Haiti being led away during
recent immigration arrests.
Distressed Haitian parents in Florida showed her the video, along with other “alarming” photos, she said.
She
said Bahamian government officials have one week to apologise and
reverse the new policies, or she will travel here with a delegation to
address them face-to-face.
She
also pledged to be persistent in raising awareness around the world
about the “injustices” performed in this country as long as the
immigration policies remain unchanged.
She said she will hold another press conference in a week if officials here do not reverse the policies.
Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell dismissed her threats yesterday.
“She’s
a fool,” he said when contacted for comment. “Anyone who talks about
boycotting the Bahamas, I can’t have any time for them. That’s absolute
rot. It’s amazing the stupidity that’s circulating around this. It’s
just astounding.”
He later noted in a statement that her claims about Haitian children being mistreated here are false.
Mrs
Campbell said Haitian parents in Florida, expressing their distress
over recent immigration apprehensions in this country, have been
overcome with emotion as they seek her help even while she campaigns for
re-election.
“I
got the information from a group of Haitian parents who came to my
office in alarming and overwhelming distress,” she said. “I was
preparing my campaign for my re-election. Even though I have a very
nasty opponent, I put everything on the side to make sure my office
wrote a letter to the Bahamian government, the prime minister of the
Bahamas and we even reached out to the consulate in Miami. Plenty people
came to my office to complain with videos and pictures.”
“I
call on President Obama, Governor (Rick) Scott and the people who are
supposed to make sure the voice of the voiceless are heard; we must
boycott Bahamas.”
Asked
how she planned to succeed in her efforts, she said: “We will do as
much we can. I am a lawmaker. I could slap Bahamas with a law in
Florida.”
“I
will get all my colleagues with me,” she added. “I will get elected
officials. We have Cuban elected officials with us supporting that
initiative because it involves every culture, everybody who understands
the meaning of children.”
She said children born in the Bahamas should never be deported.
“To
me it is very unfair (to deport them),” she said. “It’s an injustice. .
.for them to be deported to a country they don’t know, a country they
can’t speak the language of, with no one to take care of them, to be
deported – that’s terrible.”
“Bahamian culture has been doing this for years,” she continued. “I think they have no heart of God of all.”
November 11, 2014
