At a press conference at the Foreign Affairs Ministry this past Sunday, Minister Mitchell updated the media on the ongoing work of the Immigration Department to effect stricter enforcement of existing immigration laws and to expedite the processing of requested services. On the agenda was an immigration inspection that was carried out at a business premises in Freeport on Friday, 10th May 2013 to ensure the business was in compliance with all applicable immigration rules. The check was carried out within an hour. Businesses are reminded that employees who come to The Bahamas from abroad must have permission to live and work in The Bahamas before they land and evidence of that permission must be within reasonable access to their person at all times.
Mitchell revealed that within the week, a special representative from the Immigration Department would seek to follow up with all businesses in Freeport to determine whether there is a full understanding and appreciation of the regulations as it applies to immigration. The Immigration Minister was again adamant that the government would not step back from this stricter enforcement regime regardless of public criticism coming from some quarters. “The people who are engaged in this public criticism of this policy are the same suspects who have opposed everything that this government has done from the time we were in power in 1967 to the present” said Mitchell at a press conference on Sunday at the Ministry’s headquarters. He went on to say that had the government listened to these voices in this government’s formative years, the country would not have progressed to this point.
The Minister urged civic leaders to be judicious in their public comments and “instead of trying to nitpick and attack what is a reasonable and rational policy that they join us in an effort in trying to uplift the Bahamian work force.” He also revealed that he held discussions with members of the Chamber of Commerce/Employers Confederation last week at the Department of Immigration and took them into what he called the “bowels” of the Department to make the point that the challenges within immigration are not policies but rather processing in nature. “Our computers have had major overhauls within the last week (and) within the coming weeks we will be talking with the private sector on how we could improve equipment, training and manpower to try and deal with the issues.”
As for manpower, the Minister revealed that the department is wrapping up a recruitment exercise that will bolster the current complement of 231 Immigration Officers.
On the issue of training, Mitchell said that Parliament would conclude debate on legislation to establish the National Training Agency on Wednesday of this week with a targeted implementation date of June 1st for the national training programme.
