The minister said Thursday he believes the penalties for such behaviour must be stiffened significantly.
“I believe the fines should be increased because itﾒs a huge problem right now. I believe itﾒs reached a point now where it has become intolerable (to) the Bahamian public,” he said.
“So itﾒs going to be important for us to see how we can increase the penalties and make sure we show how serious we are about actually ridding The Bahamas of persons who are working here illegally.”
Mr. Gibson said that over the past several years there have been a number of employers prosecuted ﾖ “charged and convicted,” he said ﾖ for hiring illegal immigrants.
The minister said he was aware of a case in which an employer was fined $3,000.00 for employing individuals illegally.
And for the illegal employee?
According to the minister, employees working illegally without a work permit are processed for deportation. Those who have a work permit but for a different job, Mr. Gibson explained, will have the work permit cancelled and then be deported.
The minister was reacting to findings of a comprehensive study entitled “Haitian Migrants in The Bahamas,” completed by the College of The Bahamas in conjunction with the International Organization for Migration.
That study found that Haitians working illegally do so with the complicity of their employers, a finding that did not surprise the minister.
“I am not in the least bit surprised by that finding, simply because Iﾒve been saying that for a while and I think it is recognized by everybody, and globally, that unless individuals are encouraged to work illegally, it simply cannot happen,” Mr. Gibson said.
As for how to address the situation, the minister said more focus needs to be placed on detecting and penalizing those individuals who hire illegal immigrants, whatever their nationality.
“We have individuals who are willing to hire illegal immigrants, we have individuals who are willing to hire individuals who have no work permit to work in some other area, (so) of course the problem continues to get worse,” the minister said.
According to Mr. Gibson, even if there was an immigration officer stationed on every street in The Bahamas it would still be difficult to detect an individual working illegally, therefore the public needs to play a bigger role.
Coworkers and others who may know of such situations are encouraged to bring that information to the attention of the Department of Immigration.
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
