Rick Lowe
Few of us around today had any influence on public policy when Haitian's started illegally migrating here for a better way of life, but the vast majority of the middle class and above hire Haitian labourers, both legal and illegal and this has been going on since I can remember.
This so called "problem" with Haitian's has been mounting because our founding fathers and forebears chose to ignore it, as we have done many other things, like the Montague Ramp for example. And for the past twenty years of our modern history we have also turned a blind eye.
Why do you think this is?
I submit that it is because of numerous reasons, not the least of which is many of us benefit by ignoring the fact that they are actually here.
But there are more significant reasons that I've stumbled on at the Cato Institute regarding the American Immigration "problem".
I've substituted the word Bahamian or Bahamas where they had American or United States in an excerpt from a Cato article below:
"The overriding impact of immigrants is to strengthen and enrich Bahamian culture, increase the total output of the economy, and raise the standard of living of Bahamian citizens. Immigrants are advantageous to the Bahamas for several reasons: (1) Since they are willing to take a chance in a new land, they are self-selected on the basis on motivation, risk taking, work ethic, and other attributes beneficial to a nation. (2) They tend to come to the Bahamas during their prime working years (the average age is 28), and they contribute to the workforce and make huge net contributions to old-age entitlement programs, primarily Social Security. (3) Immigrants tend to fill niches in the labor market where demand is highest relative to supply, complementing rather than directly competing with Bahamian workers. (4) Many immigrants arrive with extremely high skill levels, and virtually all, regardless of skill level, bring a strong desire to work. (5) Their children tend to reach high levels of achievement in Bahamian schools and in society at large."
See this link… at the Cato Institute for more information.
Besides the part about contributing to Social Security, and having higher skill levels, it's pretty much the same here. In the US they are referring to legal immigrants, but I would bet the same would apply if we provided some form of status for many of the illegal Haitian's here.
So what should we do?
Well, Bahamians filled an important role, and benefited, in the US when many of the older generations worked there on "The Contract", so why can't we consider something similar?
Maybe a policy of giving work permits to all the Haitian's in the country for a limited period of say 3 years? That way, many of the illegal immigrants can contribute taxes instead of being a drain on the public services?
Once the illegal immigrants are regularised, they will be more easily identified, the officials would know where they live in the event they need to find them, and they would make a more meaningful contribution to society.
Other than giving them a couple of the uninhabited islands in the South to make a new country, the longer we ignore this "problem" the more difficult it will become.
We must also make every effort to prevent more vessels arriving here with more and more illegal immigrants.
As citizen's we must attempt to find a reasonable public policy response to this issue that has been a festering sore for far too long. Ignoring it and treating people as if they are less than human are no longer available options.
In closing, I would highly recommend a visit to the Cato Institute online to read their thoughts on immigration and Dr. Julian L. Simon's, The Economic Consequences of Immigration to help shed some light on a very serious issue.
I think the problem really set in when Pindling Ignored loftus Roker & did not stop them from coming in.I also believe that corruption in Immigration has created a huge problem.I have a big problem with Haitians that are here waving the Haitian flag & having”Haitian day”.If you are in the Bahamas now & have some type of status, there should now only be the Bahamian flag, no other.Your allegiance should now be to the Bahamas, not Haiti.If you like Haiti so much, GO BACK, PLEASE ! I feel for the Haitians, believe me, but I do the think we can handle any more of them. there are enough here now.I think Ms.Nicolette Bethel should move to Haiti if she wants more of them here.Why do we have millions of dollars worth of boats for the RBDF if they don’t seem to be able to use them ? Why is it that the Haitian people seem to be able to make it every place but Haiti ? The world has pumped billions into Haiti for the last God knows how many years & it has not helped one bit, they are still having huge problems.We will soon have enough Haitians here, if we don’t already, that we will become Haiti & no longer be the Bahamas.
I understand and agree with almost everything you say DP.
My point is how do we formulate ideas for public policy to solve the issue going forward?
We can’t change the past, but we should have some control over the future.
We need to have a quota on the amount allowed in, if any,we need a base in Inagua that is active with 24/7 patrols & not the occasional pick up.This needs to be taken seriously & done very strongly.Those that are born here should be given some type of status, what else could you do with that ? If I have to get a permit to breath, so should they.If they build something without it, knock it down.They must be forced to pay the piper, just like everybody else.Why is it we can see the electrical lines but yet BEC can’t ? Stop the corruption, it is destroying our country.
And yet when we have Caribana in Canada nobody says anything, yet when we wave our flags in the USA it is called freedom, now listen to DP, this is the type of hypocrisy I see all over the Caribbean, I can see it I am Guyanese, in the same category as the Haitians.
When in Rome …………………….
HAITIANS COME HERE BECAUSE ITS A FREE WAY OF LIFE. FREE MEDICAL SERVICES FOR KIDS AND THEMSELVES. FREE EDUCATION, AND MORE OPPURTUNITIES. I WENT TO SCHOOL IN AMERICA IF I COULDNT FIND PROOF THT I COULD PAY FOR SCHOOLING I WASNT ALLOWED IN THE COUNTRY FOR SCHOOL ONLY FOR VISIT. SO MY QUESTION IS HOW DO THEY GET FREE EDUCATION AND ARE NOT BAHAMIANS. DONT THE SCHOOL ASK FOR CITIZENSHIP OF SOME SORT.HOW CAN WE ENROLL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS INTO OUR SCHOOLS WHICH SOMETIMES CAUSES THE BAHAMIANS NOT TO GET A SET IN SCHOOL.
So true.I know a former RBDF member who took sick suddenly & went to the PMH in his uniform & they made him wait in line behind 300 Haitians,most of them were probably illegal.It is only going to get worse.We have taken more than we should have already, it is time to say, sorry, NO MORE !Call me what you like.
I agree that they are illegal and they should go back home. But had it been you wouldn’t you have wanted for another country to take you in, in your time of need. Haiti is a poor country with poor people, but they’re still human and we as Bahamian need to start treating them that way. The best way to deal with the overflowing of illegal immigrant is stop them from reaching Bahama shores.BUT PLEASE lets do this the christian way, don’t beat, kill or mistreat them out there because there’s no witness(so i’ve been told); God is watching even when no one else is. For the life of me i have no idea why Haitians continues to come to the Bahamas, don’t they write or call home to let their family know about how they’re treated in this CHRISTIan nation; i think not because if they did then we would not have as much haitians coming to the Bahamas. But the sad truth is that they figure it can’t be any worse than the life they live in Haiti. If they meet a nice person then, life is better in the Bahamas. But come across a Bahamian then sorry to say this but i think they should of jump of the little boat they came on because they would stand a better chance against the sharks.
So now Minister McCartney resigns, is it because Ingrahm has tied his hands ? I think so.McCartney wants to clean it up & for some strange reason the PM does not.Seems to me the question is why ? Ingrahm is ignoring the will of the people.
I agree with you DP… we are seeing more & more of this kind of behaviour from PM Ingraham. In the previous by-election he was nicknamed “Papa”…
Can you spell “Papa Doc” ???
I can tell you it is reason for great concern, the problem is the alternative to the FMN is far worse.I vote for McCartney to be the next leader of the FNM, at least he seems to want to do the right thing.I would like to know why these leaders don’t seem to want to stop this influx of Haitians & others to our country.It seems to me that we have already lost our Bahamian ID.Loftas Roker tried & he received Pindlings wrath, now McCartney has tried & he has received Ingrahms wrath, why, because they tried to do the right thing ? What do they hope to gain from this ?There is more to this than meets the eye.Something is going on here, has Obama put some type of pressure on us, or promised funding to us if we do x, y, or z ?
In America there’s a national day for just about every group. On that day folks dress in their native clothes and wave their flags. Very educational info are learned about each group on such days. I for one am grateful to the Haitians in the Bahamas. When I go on vacations they are the only group of people that are smiling, kind and helpful. The rest of the country appears angry. I don’t know if it’s a black Bahamian thing but I do see lots of angry faces all around. Most of the time I don’t bother asking anything of these angry faces. They don’t look happy to be working.
One last point. If you went to school in America, you would know that education is free to all (legal and illegal) until high school. For college, there are tons of scholarships for minorities, especially Haitians, Cubans, Mexicans and Philippinos. Get informed, knowledge is power.
I have no problem with Haitians.What I do have a problem with is the amount that are coming into our country on any given day.I agree also that a lot of Bahamians have a problem with a smile & a bad attitude about work.On a side note, the labor laws we have are not helping any either.You can’t fire someone if you wanted to.All I am saying is enough is enough.Try & wave the American flag in Mexico.on the other note, school is not free, somebody, somewhere,somehow is paying for it.