...the job of Immigration is to protect The Bahamas from illegal immigrants... but... The schools, the churches and the hospitals are off limits to immigration officers... so... The Bahamas' Haitian problem continues

Schools, hospitals and churches off limits to Immigration

tribune242 editorial




THIS WEEK Belinda Wilson, president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers, agreed that undocumented Haitian students should be removed from the Bahamas' school system.

While recognising that it was a delicate situation, that no child in the Bahamas can be denied an education, and that no roundup of Haitian students whose parents are illegally in this country, should be carried out on school property, Ms Wilson said teachers are willing to assist Immigration in identifying the students for their eventual removal. She was supporting an intention allegedly made by Immigration Director Jack Thompson in a speech to the New Providence Association of Public High School Principals' annual retreat. However, Mr Thompson denied a newspaper report - not a Tribune report - that quoted him as saying that the country has to "flush out" undocumented immigrants who are enrolled in the country's school system "absorbing our resources."

Mr Thompson denied any suggestion that the Immigration Department intends to target these children. He said he made it clear to the educators that education is a fundamental human right which every child is entitled to receive.

"Administrators were told," said Mr Thompson, "that students of foreign nationals attending schools should apply to the Department of Immigration for a residency permit or permit to reside." He said it was "emphasised that while students should not be denied the right of a basic education, records by the Department to Immigration are critical for future applications, or permanent residence or citizenship."

He agreed that the children's issue was a sensitive one and requires professionalism and discretion.

He said that his department, fully appreciating the sensitivity of the matter, always tries to make certain that its policies and actions are in "compliance with international law and acceptable national and international standards and practices."

This is a most difficult situation and unless handled extremely carefully can be turned into a human witch hunt. If vulnerable parents believe that they can be targeted through their school children, there will be a mass exodus from the schools, which then becomes a police problem as the children take to the bush.

The last problem will then be far greater than the first.

The situation of the children is not of easy solution. Many of these children have been born here of parents who have lived in the Bahamas for many years. No child born in the Bahamas after 1973 is automatically a Bahamian citizen. However, at the age of 18 that young person can apply for citizenship. No impediments being in the way, the grant of citizenship should be automatic.

However, a Haitian child born in the Bahamas, does have an impediment to block his automatic citizenship -- his parents are illegal residents. We don't know if over the years the Bahamas and Haitian governments have worked out another thorny problem. However, at one time Haiti did not recognise as Haitian citizens a child born in the Bahamas of Haitian parents. If this is still the position it means that the Bahamas will have many stateless children on its hands. This is indeed a major problem -- an international problem.

Many vocal Bahamians want Haitian children not only removed from the schools, but all undocumented residents -- mostly Haitians -- to be banned from the hospitals and clinics. This is a most shortsighted and dangerous position, and the fastest way to fan an epidemic that could affect us all.

Let these people fear seeking medical help for a disease that could be contagious, and rather than be arrested stay at home, they could infect their family, their neighbours, their community and eventually all of New Providence.

Doctors, for example, swear the Hippocratic Oath, which is one of the oldest binding documents in history. Its principles are still held sacred by doctors today. Doctors swear to treat the sick to the best of their ability, preserve the patient's privacy, teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation, etc. And so doctors, in practising their profession are bound to keep information about their patients secret. They are also obliged to treat them regardless of who they are or from where they come.

Mr Thompson has made it clear that the job of Immigration is to protect the Bahamas from illegal immigrants, but he stresses that it is a task that must be carried out with sensitivity.

"We never send any immigration officers to the schools," said Mr Thompson. "The schools, the church and the hospitals are off limits."

This does not remove the Haitian problem, which has to be approached in another way.

July 07, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International