Progressive Liberal Party Chairman Fred Mitchell has said there has been little change surrounding immigration since the government’s hardline stance.

In an interview with The Journal, Mr. Mitchell said the status quo has remained the same and the problem will continue to exist.

“The proof is in the pudding with this, I thought the whole idea with this new initiative was fatuous because on the first of November 2014 a policy was implemented and it has been followed by immigration.

“Nothing has changed. What is clear is that the message hasn’t gotten through to Haiti because scores of Haitians just were interdicted up to this week.

“They are still coming; intelligence says this is still the place to come thanks in large to the economy here,” Mr. Mitchell said.

On Monday in its first apprehension of the year, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force arrested 70 Haitians who were on board a 40ft sailing vessel east of south Long Island, officials said.
According to official reports, shortly after 5pm on Monday a US Coast Guard helicopter from Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), spotted the vessel, “Island Girl”, and alerted the RBDF.

The Department of Immigration intensified its apprehension efforts in November after a large empty sloop was discovered on the shoreline of Adelaide Beach.
One month later, a boat “loaded” with Haitian migrants landed near Clifton Pier, about three miles from Coral Harbour. Immigration officers and other authorities spent the following days combing the area for the migrants. The RBDF said 57 people – 43 men, 11 women and three children – were taken into custody and transported to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre as a result of that sloop landing.

In October, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis gave illegal immigrants a December 31, 2017, deadline to leave the country voluntarily or face being “aggressively pursued and deported”.