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Fair warning
Bahamian companies that employ foreign nationals have been given fair warning by Minister of State for Immigration Branville McCartney that they should not expect renewal of work permits for these workers if outstanding fees owed to the Immigration Department are not paid up. During the mid-year budget debate in the House of Assembly last week, McCartney revealed that an audit by the Collection Unit of the Department uncovered that 70 companies in New Providence owe Immigration more than $834,000, and in Grand Bahama the outstanding debt is even worse. Indeed, an audit of 330 files in Grand Bahama found that approximately $1.5 million in fees were owed to Immigration.

This is absolutely astonishing. Surely, if the workers were brought into the country because there supposedly were no Bahamians qualified for the positions they now hold, then ensuring that their Immigration status is up-to-date should be a top priority of the companies they work for. By being delinquent in paying these fees, they certainly run the risk of possible embarrassment by having Immigration inspectors come on their jobs and removing the individuals in question for working in the country without work permits. In fact, the workers themselves should be up in arms about this neglect on the part of their employers, for such action by Immigration could lead to their deportation from the country.

There is no question that these are tough economic times and many businesses are experiencing difficulty keeping their bottom line in the profitable margin, and for some it is a daily struggle to even remain in business. But if the latter is the case for a company that determined that finding the right employee to fill a particular position was important enough to bring in someone that would require paying the Immigration Department a fee for a work permit, then it may be better if that company decides to close shop.

With Grand Bahama's unemployment rate now at a staggering 14.6 percent, obviously there are a whole lot of Bahamians out there who are unemployed and for whom no work permit fee is necessary. Depending on the nature of the business, maybe some of the companies that owe the Government work permit fees should concentrate more on hiring locally and providing the required training where necessary.

Make no mistake about it, McCartney's warning was mild considering the hard-line approach he has used in tackling the myriad problems he met at the Department of Immigration when Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham had the good sense to appoint him as the minister with responsibility for immigration in July of last year.

He has been accused of grandstanding and being a publicity seeker, but even his detractors must admit that he has been very impressive. By any measuring rod, no other previous Minister of Immigration – not even Loftus Roker, who did a remarkable job as immigration minister in the then Progressive Liberal Party Government in the mid-to-late 1980s – has been more effective in addressing the country's illegal Haitian immigrants problem. Between 1986 and 1988, Roker engendered tremendous fear among illegal Haitian immigrants authorizing relentless raids in communities in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco that were suspected of providing them with safe havens.

McCartney has been having the same effect, but to an even greater extent, by tackling the problem on several fronts, including putting a great deal of emphasis on immediate repatriation. This policy sends a strong message back to Haiti that the welcome mat is no longer as open in The Bahamas as it used o be. What's more, the immediate repatriation policy reduces the cost of having to feed and house them at the detention centre.

But it is a very costly exercise. As McCartney told the House last week, the "repatriation of illegal immigrants continues to absorb a large sum of the Department's budget and our country's financial resources." Indeed, he told the House that from January of 2000 to December of 2008, a total of 44,614 Haitians were repatriated to Haiti and 9,714 other nationals were repatriated to their homeland at a cost of almost $8 million. Between July 1 of 2008 and December 31 of 2008, during his current tenure as Immigration Minister, repatriation expenditures have amounted to more than $411,353.

Unquestionably, this should be a matter of concern to all Bahamians. Yet some Bahamians contribute to the illegal immigration problem by employing illegal immigrants, whether as cheap labour in the construction industry or as maids in their homes. This blatant disregard for the country's immigration laws should no longer be tolerated, and Bahamians who are guilty should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

As he seeks to bring this problem under control, Mr. McCartney certainly deserves the full support of all patriotic Bahamians, and given the high costs involved, it certainly would help tremendously if those delinquent companies that owe Immigration fees pay up.

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