Dear Editor,
 
Michel Martelly is Haiti's current president.  He has been on a worldwide tour to improve Haitian interests at home and abroad.  We all know the dire circumstance that Haiti is now in and has been in for as long as we can remember.  His statement advising Bahamians of Haitian descent to form an alliance and vote for the political party that has their best interests has once again fueled massive debate about our illegal immigration problem.
Back in the 1980s, the minister of immigration was Loftus Roker.  He had a no-nonsense policy when it came to illegal immigration.  Once you were found to be an illegal immigrant, the minister made sure through policy that you were repatriated immediately.  He authorized raids at any time during the day and night.  There was a certain fear among the illegal Haitian immigrants back then who referred to Roker as "Daddy".  Illegal immigrants back then were fearful in the hospital, on the way to work and even for their children at school because of Roker's many impromptu raids.
Fast track to 2012.  That fear is gone as illegal immigrants know that their chances of being caught are next to none due to our lax immigration laws that have not been adequately updated and that are horrendously unenforced.  Roker subsequently resigned from Lynden Pindling's Cabinet and ever since then, our immigration policy to our detriment has remained the same and its mandate not been carried out.
From the mid-1980s to now, tens of thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants have illegally entered our shores.  Tens of thousands of them I am sure have been repatriated, but tens of thousands of them have fallen through the cracks and have remained in The Bahamas illegally.  We have also had the naturalization of thousands of Haitians who were born in The Bahamas despite the fact that their parents were illegal.  Many of these illegal immigrants are also in limbo because their requests have gone unanswered.  The law does permit that children born to illegal immigrants can apply for Bahamian citizenship at age 18.
It is now 2012 and our national policy to halt illegal immigration is still repatriation.  How sad and ineffective.  We are in dire need of a more scientific and engaging approach where The Bahamas and Haiti can sit down and try to solve this problem together.  It is in The Bahamas' best interest to do all it can to ensure that Haiti's economy becomes viable.  And who may I ask is the current Bahamian ambassador to Haiti?
No right-thinking Bahamian can doubt that Bahamians of Haitian descent form a very important fabric of our society.  We have Bahamians of Haitian descent on the police and defence forces, the immigration and customs departments, in education and there is speculation that some are even in Parliament.  Stephen Dillet was the first black person elected to the House of Assembly and he was of Haitian descent.
Successive governments have failed miserably on the illegal immigration issue and now many of the Bahamians who idly sat by and raised their 'pom-poms' at political rallies while this problem festered now want the government to wave a magic wand and fix this problem overnight.  Bahamians need to think again because it is not going to happen.  The Haitian-Bahamians are here to stay.  Bahamians also need to be equally as concerned with the economic plight of the Chinese who are chipping away at owning our land and whose business interests and acquisitions have spiked tremendously over the last few years.
Martelly's statement is one that can be expected of any leader to his people.  We must remember that he was not granted access to visit The Bahamas by himself and maybe the timing of his visit is questionable.  Would Bahamians rather he advised Bahamians of Haitian descent to vote for a government that does not have their interests at heart, given the historically bad economic situation in Haiti?  Of course not.
All and sundry are saying that Martelly's visit, though by Brent Symonette's admission was abrupt, is an election ploy by the governing party.  They are saying that the visit should have been planned and should have been entertained any time other than now, especially since elections are imminent. These arguments are futile now because Martelly's visit has come and gone.  The damage, if any, has been done.
The hidden meaning behind Martelly's statement that a lot of Bahamians are missing is the fact that he could not have come to this conclusion if he did not feel that a particular party favors the interests of Haitian-Bahamians more than the other party.
Where are the government agencies who allow illegal immigrant activity to continue unabated?  The ministers of national security, labour and foreign affairs need to be equally at the heart of this discussion because they have responsibility for many of the agencies that either don't perform, or underperform, in their duties.  These are some of the major issue that Bahamians need to be concerned about and they should demand answers from the government and not Martelly.
No government past or present has effectively dealt with our vexing immigration problem and no government has been able to stem the flow of illegal immigrants coming to The Bahamas.  From attorneys general who hired illegal immigrants, to big and small companies who can be seen daily transporting hundreds of cheap illegal immigrant labor to and from work, I think that Bahamians want to have their cake and eat it too.
An identity card system for all Bahamians, residents and temporary workers alike, should have been implemented since the 1980s where this card must be in your possession at all times.  Shantytown issues that were allowed to blossom under successive governments should have been tackled decades ago.
Haitian mothers with no status were allowed to have babies after babies in the public hospital without a whimper of dissatisfaction from Bahamians or legislators and now these children are 18 and ready to apply for citizenship.  Haitian children who were allowed to attend public school and be educated free of charge are now looking for jobs in The Bahamas.  And now Bahamians want to act like there is a quick fix to this problem.  No way.  We are all culpable in this national fiasco and this issue will not be solved overnight.
Three ways that I believe can stem the tide of illegal immigration are to implement effective ways to properly police our borders, properly document illegal immigrants presently residing in our country and vigorously enforcing our immigration laws.
More long-range defence force patrol vessels and more defence force bases strategically placed in Inagua, Ragged Island and other selected islands would be a first step.  Jack Thompson, director of immigration, can't even produce a report on how many illegal immigrants are living in Fox Hill, let alone New Providence or the entire Bahamas.  This tells you that we don't even possess some of the tools to begin to tackle this issue.  We haven't even reached the 'starting block' yet.  The problem collectively rests on our shoulders and we have done a very poor job with regards to implementing effective immigration policies.
Don't blame the Haitian president for wanting what is best for 'his people'.  He knows as well as any other novice that Bahamian-Haitians contribute vastly to the economy of The Bahamas.  He knows that despite his best efforts, even if Haiti was able to turn its economy around, many Bahamians of Haitian descent will never return to Haiti.  They are apparently here to stay.  We can only blame ourselves.
 
- Dehavilland Moss

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