“Mitchell questions policy announcement” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Shadow Minister of Immigration Fred Mitchell said yesterday he has deep concerns about Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis’ statement that illegal migrants in The Bahamas have until December 31^st to get out of the country.

Mitchell said the prime minister’s statement suggests that the government has created an amnesty.

‘The first thing you have to ask yourself is, is this an amnesty,’ he said in the Senate.

‘I’m told the immigration minister says that it isn’t.’

‘I would argue by implication that it certainly must be.  Fred Smith (head of the Humans Rights Bahamas), litigious as he is, would have a joyous time with this.’

‘The prime minister of the country gets up in the Parliament and says you have until the December 31 to straighten out your affairs.’

‘So what does that tell you?  Every boat from Port au Prince (in Haiti) Kingston (Jamaica) can set out to sea and come to the Bahamas.’

“When you plan public policy you ought to think about the implications about what you are saying.  Are the immigration officers supposed to sit on their hands until December 31?”

It has been at least twenty four hours since I have asked the question of the basis of Senator Mitchell’s questioning of the latest immigration policy by the Minnis administration, to date I have not gotten an explanation to the reasoning behind the points being raised by the senator.

Many may think of this as an attack on Senator Mitchell by myself to show him up or make him look foolish but I really am serious about the question that I asked, as I feel that the senator is doing a wonderful job in making himself look foolish and/or ignorant.

From what I understand, the two major points being raised by Senator Mitchell are;

1. That persons landing within the next two months will be able to get sorted out before the end of the year and
2. That are being given an amnesty period although the current government has not labeled it has such.

If the senator is suggesting that “Every boat from Port au Prince (in Haiti) Kingston (Jamaica) can set out to sea and come to the Bahamas.” And these person would be allowed to stay and get sorted out by the 31^st of December 2017?  He within himself should know that this very thought is pure and utter ignorance within itself, as there are persons who have entered the country legally many years ago, dare I say decades, who still are awaiting for their paperwork to be approved by the Ministry of Immigration, the only person to my knowledge to have gotten expedited paper work from the Ministry of Immigration was Anna Nicole Smith, by then I digress.

Then there is the issue of an ‘amnesty period’, it has been stated that it is not, so while migrants are being encouraged to get sorted out, they still will be apprehended and process and repatriated, isn’t this normal procedure?  I recall an example of a young lady that had come to the Bahamas and put in her papers to the Immigration Department for citizenship but had to return to her place of birth while these papers were being process or risk being detained, process and deported; Senator Mitchell is being very disingenuous with his language when standing up to voice his ‘concerns’ on this statement and in the mean time only creating chaos and confusion but maybe this his intent.

Some people seem to go out of their way to say things in an effort to either sound intelligent or just to remain relevant, when actually the best thing to do at certain times is to adhere to the old adage, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

It is clear that Senator Mitchell is either unaware of this adage or just does not subscribe to its philosophy.

END