Some residents of an Abaco community plagued for decades by a vexing illegal immigration problem are planning a protest next week to bring renewed focus to a problem they say is worsening.
For a long time, there have been concerns in Marsh Harbour about the burgeoning Pigeon Pea and The Mud communities, Haitian shantytowns that have in the past been at the centre of the illegal immigration debate.
The residents planning the demonstration, scheduled for next Tuesday in front of the administratorﾴs office, are hoping that authorities would move speedily to weed illegal immigrants out of the Marsh Harbour area.
“Our illegals here is a very serious problem,” said Yvonne Key, a Marsh Harbour resident, who is part of a taskforce on illegal immigration formed last year.
“We want the Haitian workers. We need the Haitian workers. But we want the government to make it right by sending out the illegals. We donﾴt want Marsh Harbour or The Bahamas to become a Port-de-Paix. We want it legalized.
“We want [them] to pick up and send back who isnﾴt legal, sell them a piece of land so they can move out of Pigeon Pea and The Mud. This is what we want, but we donﾴt get anywhere with the requestﾅThe Haitians will never move unless we give them an alternative.”
Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet has on many occasions spoken of the problem of illegal immigration, but he has also noted that it cannot be solved overnight.
The Minister has appointed a national committee to find an approach to the problem that would be effective.
In addition, the government is receiving assistance from the International Organization On Migration in trying to count the numbers of illegal immigrants in the country.
Central Abaco Administrator Revis Rolle also indicated on Wednesday that the Marsh Harbour taskforce is conducting a census of the Haitian shantytowns there.
“There is a problem,” he said. “The magnitude of the problem is that we do not have any true figures as to how many Haitians we are dealing with. Another magnitude of the problem is that it becomes a cultural, educational and health issue and those things become a burden on the government.”
The administrator also pointed to the complicated nature of the illegal immigration problem that has been festering now for decades. Mr. Rolle also indicated that many Bahamians have played a significant role in helping to fuel the problem.
“You are looking at a 40-year-old problem,” said Mr. Rolle, echoing sentiments often expressed by Minister Peet.
“[This is] a problem that seemed to have survived several governments and it seems now that these persons who are very irate have lived with the problem from day one. Mind you, over the years, some of them might have helped to perpetuate the problem by hiring illegals, but now the numbers are seemingly overwhelming and has become a problem to those who initially hired some of them.”
Mr. Rolle said that the government will have to make a decision on how to address ongoing concerns about illegal immigration in Abaco.
He said, “It is my view that the government has a commitment through the Urban Renewal [Programme].”
Officials from the programme are already in Abaco working with the taskforce, Mr. Rolle said, adding that the illegal immigration problem must be addressed “sensibly”.
“We live in a diverse world and we need persons from other cultures so we cannot think that The Bahamas is only for Bahamians,” he added. “The Bahamas is for Bahamians firstly.”
Mrs. Key said that as part of the taskforce, she got about 175 Haitian families who live in Pigeon Pea and The Mud to sign a petition saying they would move from the shantytowns if they got some assistance from the government.
“They are interested in moving,” she said. “They want to get out of the squalor theyﾴre in.”
Mrs. Key said many Haitians had hoped that the government would sell them land for “a small price” so they could get out of the shantytowns before the start of the new hurricane season.
“We figured that we could have a demonstration to wake the government up to say ﾑListen, we need help. We donﾴt have the power. You have the power. Give us a plan,” she said.
Mrs. Key said that there is land in nearby settlements that the government could sell to those Haitians who are in The Bahamas legally and the Bahamians who live in Pigeon Pea and The Mud.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
