Shadow Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture and Free National Movement (FNM) Senator Lanisha Rolle has dubbed the creation of the Immigration Reserve Corps a recipe "for catastrophe", and instead recommended the outright hiring of young people as full-fledged immigration officers.
She made the recommendation as she expressed her concerns about the Immigration Amendment Bill 2014 debated by the Senate late last week.The bill has four functions: One of its primary functions is to establish the immigration reserve corps.
Rolle took particular issue with the establishment of the immigration reserve, which she hoped was "not an attempt to create another sector of political spies or cronies".
"While this category of support is needed in the police force, considering that our murder rate is reportedly up by 30 percent, unless this government can justify the need to add this category of support to the Immigration Department I say this potential threat to privacy is really uncalled for, and I simply have to question the motive and the rational of this proposal," she said.
"I believe that this is too much allocation of power, and unnecessary expansion of the armed forces... It creates or is likely to create an excessive amount of members of the armed forces in a small country with a small group of people," she added.
Rolle also attacked the idea on the grounds that "this unwarranted and unjustified addition of immigration reserves has the potential to create an atmosphere of further intimidation on members of the public, many of whom are legitimate guests of our country and who have legitimately complained about so many instances of extortion and misuse of powers by those given the power to wield them... To my mind, this proposal from a national security and democracy standpoint is dangerous."
The shadow minister also questioned the government as to why it would create another avenue for persons who have jobs to obtain a second job, "when the fact is the unemployed young people of this country can't find one".
"Moreover, why would this government propose to create a situation whereas it is in the police reserve, we will have people putting their lives on the line for pennies with no real benefits or protection as a full pledged employee in a high risk sector? To my mind, this amounts once again to irresponsible governance, and this proposal of an immigration reserve is, in my opinion, a recipe for catastrophe," she said.
"I believe, this immigration reserve proposal is only submitted by this government as a means to sell another dream to Bahamians that they are making provisions for more jobs, but more jobs for who, and under what conditions, and at what cost? The only people who will suffer under these hardship employment conditions are average, hard-working Bahamians."
Rolle recommended that instead of what she labelled a "short-sighted approach", the government should consider hiring young people and the jobless in our society who need permanent and pensionable jobs, as full-fledged immigration officers.
"This recommendation should be the thinking of a government that wants to truly give its citizens a slice of the pie, not the crumbs. This reserve idea is economically counter-productive in substance," she said.

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