Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell has branded as "hateful, deceitful, ungrateful, dishonest and unpatriotic", comments made by lawyer Fred Smith, QC, to the audience of an association meeting recently.
Smith told the audience: "... It's a big problem for the black Bahamians that you're down here. Believe it or not, they want your money, they want you to spend it, but they don't like you, alright."
Smith, in recorded audio from the Coral Beach Condominium Association meeting, can be heard telling the audience that Bahamians do not like foreigners, and that this country's people are very "hateful" toward foreign investors.
"It is a very difficult environment to live in," Smith told the group.
"Most of you... you're all white for the most part... The fact is The Bahamas is a very racist, a very xenophobic, a nationally insecure and a very hateful place to foreigners. So you can't just bury your head in the sand."
Some observers believe there is already an extremely bad stigma about the people of The Bahamas, especially at a time when a sovereign credit rating downgrade leaves the country's foreign direct investment climate possibly teetering on the edge of failure.
Mitchell picked up on Smith's comments and came to the defense of the country and Bahamians at large in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, saying: "I do not appreciate in the least this attempt to smear me and to smear the government and the wider Bahamian people, no matter how it is dressed up."
Smith accused Mitchell of going after foreign residents at the Coral Beach condominium, suggesting to the 65-person association meeting that the immigration minister had intervened in a private matter regarding condominium fees that were in arrears.
"Why is Fred Mitchell, the minister of Bahamas immigration, getting involved in a dispute that exists between condominium owners?" Smith asked.
"Why is he picking on Bruno Rufa or Sandra or Nancy or others? Make no mistake when the new board decides to enforce a lien against some Bahamian who refuses to pay the maintenance you will be the next one that the immigration is going to try and deport."
However, Mitchell hit back, saying his only relationship with the situation was through his ministry, which was investigating possible criminal actions of one of the condominium's residents.
"The record shows that Bruno Rufa about whom he speaks, a Canadian citizen, is now before the criminal courts of The Bahamas on a charge of working in The Bahamas without a work permit. That is an offense in law," Mitchell said.
"There is the rule of law in The Bahamas and no one's rights are infringed upon.
"When someone violates the laws and procedures of The Bahamas, then the Department of Immigration acts. Such an individual against whom a decision is made has a right in law to review their case and the government acts according to law.
"The Bahamas government is not involved in any dispute with the Coral Beach Condominium Association."
Smith, who is also an environmential activist, has been a representative for several high profile foreigners in The Bahamas. Mitchell suggested that Smith made thousands representing the condominium association in certain capacities.
"Mr. Rufa has availed himself of the courts of The Bahamas," Mitchell said. "And the records show that Mr. Smith has been paid handsomely for his work, with the minutes of the meeting's record showing that some $270,000 in fees have been collected by him and his firm for work for the association; some $1 million in outstanding fees are unbilled."
Mitchell said his first duty as a policymaker of The Bahamas was to protect the country, its constitution and its people, and thus remarked: "Given the wide circulation of the documents, no immigration minister can allow this comment to stand unchallenged, particularly as it was delivered in the face of 65 foreign people who live in The Bahamas and are valued investors here. It is hateful. It is deceitful. This is ungrateful. It is dishonest. It is unpatriotic."

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