by Larry Smith
The capture of hundreds of Haitians arriving by boat on the southern coast of New Providence recently focused new attention on our illegal immigration problem.
According to Minister of State Branville McCartney, "If we don't arrest this problem, we will face difficulties."
And Police Commissioner Reginald Ferguson acknowledged the security risks involved in the smuggling of terrorists, narcotics and firearms along with illegal immigrants: "It has the potential to be very, very, very serious for us."
There are two key immigration issues that the government, and Bahamians in general, must contend with - stabilising the size of the Haitian community, and integrating long-term Haitian residents into the mainstream of Bahamian society.
But just how serious is the problem? What are the implications? How do we develop effective policies? Well, the answer to those questions requires good information - something which is conspicuously lacking. So three years ago the International Office of Migration was asked to undertake an assessment of the Haitian community in the Bahamas.
The IOM was formed in 1951 to tackle global refugee problems, and advise governments on migration law and policy. Its 2005 study was partly funded by a grant from the United States and conducted by researchers from the College of the Bahamas, with the backing of the government and the Haitian Embassy.
The resulting 98-page report collated all the available data, and creole-speaking interviewers surveyed 500 Haitians on four islands. But the findings have yet to be officially released or discussed.
Ironically, the paucity of information on this subject is a major theme of the IOM report. And we recently had to put up with the foolishness of a member of the former government (under whose watch the report was produced) asking the present government to publish it.
However, Tough Call has obtained a copy and the basics are published here for the first time. This is important information that should be in the public domain to better inform the policy debate.
What Do We Know About the Haitian Migration?
The IOM report begins by summarising the scant research that has been conducted over the past 30 years. Turns out there have only been two major studies, a couple of substantial analyses, and a handful of limited government surveys.
Dawn Thompson-Marshall's research in 1969-1971 was published in book form (The Haitian Dilemma) in 1979. She concluded that given their social and economic marginalization in the Bahamas, Haitians had no incentive to assimilate and were likely to remain an isolated and deprived community - which is exactly the case.
The most recent study referred to by the IOM was a 1998 graduate thesis by a Haitian-Bahamian named Ermitte St. Jacques. She described a pattern of "stair-step" migration whereby the poorest nations in the Caribbean send migrants to the less poor nations, and those nations send migrants to rich countries like the United States.
In fact, there are over 70,000 undocumented Bahamians living in the US according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. And between 1989 and 2004, another 12,000 Bahamians emigrated legally to America, with more than 5,000 subsequently gaining citizenship.
St Jacques dismissed the scaremongering which says that Haitians disproportionately take advantage of our social services and public facilities. She framed the immigrant problem in terms of xenophobic nationalism, stoked by Bahamian fears that the country is being overrun and creolised.
That last term is a catch-all for a variety of impacts, some real and others imagined. These impacts range from the spread of vast unregulated squatter settlements, to creole education in public schools, rising crime rates, the prospect of epidemics, cultural disintegration and the loss of sovereignty.
In addition to these two studies, there are some half-dozen articles and reports that draw on Marshall's research. These notably include a long section in Michael Craton's and Gail Saunders' 2000 book Islanders in the Stream, and two articles in the Journal of The Bahamas Historical Society by former attorneys-general Alfred Sears and Sean McWeeney.
Craton and Saunders point out, for example, that Haitians are blamed by Bahamians for every social and medical ill conceivable - from tuberculosis, cholera, AIDS, and malaria, to prostitution, drug dealing, theft, violent crime, and gang warfare. According to the IOM, most scholars question what the future holds for Haitian Bahamians, who are likely to become much more vocal about their rights as time goes on.
Studies of the Haitian diaspora in other Caribbean countries, as well as in North America, show that first-generation migrants tend not to seek assimilation into the host society but often forge a new identity by joining evangelical and Pentecostal churches. "How these conclusions apply to the second-generation Haitians would be lines for future inquiry in the Bahamian context," the IOM said.
How Does the Media Cover Illegal Immigration?
In its review of local media coverage of migration issues, the IOM noted that "Most of the opinions reported on were negative and focused on problems created by Haitian nationals for the Bahamas. Rare were any feature articles exploring the issues with any significant degree of depth and reflection. Rare also were any reports on individual Haitian nationals’ situations such as might give them a human face."
As the IOM pointed out, the argument that Bahamians must compete for education, health and social services because of their overuse by illegal immigrants is frequently reported by the media without substantiation. For example, in 2004 the Guardian wrote (incorrectly) that a third of students in public schools and seven of 10 maternity patients were of Haitian origin.
In short, the Bahamian media portray Haitians in a way that heightens the threat they pose. And the government is pictured as merely reacting to events beyond its control - thereby increasing the feeling of powerlessness in the face of a perceived assault on the nation's sovereignty.
"There is no elaboration on the migration phenomena or the meaning of the Haitian diaspora. These important issues need to be understood when living in a global, multicultural, multilingual world, and the media does not attempt to help the average Bahamian to understand the problem," the IOM rightly concluded.
The report lists varying estimates of the size of the Haitian migrant population. These range from 40,000 cited in the 1970s to 30,000 reported by the government in the mid 90s, to "hundreds of thousands" in a 2002 report quoting Carl Bethel, to 80,000 cited by US agencies in 2005, to 400,000 claimed by Guardian columnist Errington Watkins in 2005.
Then there are the 25,000 documented migrants that were known to the Haitian Embassy in Nassau in 2005, or the 21,000 Haitian residents recorded in the 2000 census - about 7 per cent of the population, concentrated on New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera.
To address this rather large uncertainty, the IOM called for government agencies to index the data they collect by nationality for collation by a special monitoring unit that would prepare yearly reports. Currently, nationality is not recorded by many agencies, including the Road Traffic Department, the Department of Labour, public clinics, the Ministry of Education examinations board, and the Registrar-General.
What Impact Do Haitians Have on the Bahamas?
But there are some things that can be determined about Haitians living in the Bahamas. The IOM report provided the following snapshot, based on early- to mid-2000s government statistics and the 500-interview survey conducted in 2005:
•Only 28 Haitians were given food stamps by Social Services in 2005
•Only 59 Haitians were imprisoned at Fox Hill in 2005
•Only 22 Haitians were charged with drug offences in 2003
•Over 23,000 Haitians registered with the National Insurance Board between 1974 and 2004
•Over 12,000 Haitians were making NIB contributions in 2004
•Haitians received less than 2 per cent of benefits paid out by NIB in 2004
•Haitians received only 1.3 per cent of maternity benefits paid out by NIB in 2004
•Almost all work permits issued to Haitians are for manual labour
•Haitians are more likely to be in the lowest household income category
•Most Haitians work for private households or in the construction, agricultural and tourism sectors
•Only 205 passport applications had been received from Haitians born in the Bahamas before Independence
•About 1500 certificates of identity were issued to Haitians in 2004
•Haitians constituted less than 9 per cent of the public school population in 2005
•Haitians constituted almost a third of the public school population in Abaco in 2005
•Haitians constituted just over 11 per cent of hospital admissions in 2001
•Less than 12 per cent of live births were to Haitian nationals in 2003
•Haitians newly infected with HIV represented 18 per cent of all new HIV infections in 2003
•Over 22,000 illegal Haitians were deported from 2000 to 2004
•Between 2000 and 2004, the number of Haitian vessels cleared at Inagua increased from 55 to 228 (+314%)
•Most Haitians come to the Bahamas to work and not to settle
•Most arrive illegally and have their stay regularised by Bahamian employers
•Most are paid less than Bahamians and complain of abuses by the authorities
•Most Haitian migrants have little education, poor English skills and are not integrated into Bahamian society
According to the IOM, almost a third of Haitian migrants arrive by air these days, and Port-au-Prince is an important point of embarkation as a result. Those travelling by sea head for New Providence - usually arriving at Arawak Cay - before going to their ultimate island of residence. The fare for both air and sea transport from Haiti is about $1,000.
The mean length of time since migrants born in Haiti had first arrived in the Bahamas was nine years. And most of those surveyed had only made one attempt to come to the Bahamas, suggesting that many deportees do not try to return, or manage to flow through the Bahamas to a third country. Less than 5 per cent of migrants said they left Haiti to escape political persecution.
The fact that less that 10 per cent of survey respondents wanted to stay in the Bahamas suggests that most may eventually leave the country, the IOM said. And it was noted that the intention of respondents not to stay here permanently was unaffected by how long they had been in the country.
From survey responses and other corroborating data, it is believed that as much as 45 per cent of Haitian residents may have work permits, although they may be breaking the terms of those permits, or the documents may be forged. Respondents said they often paid more than twice the official fee for permits and other official documents.
What Drives The Migration?
But the most important question in all of this is what drives the migration in the first place. And that is quite simply the Bahamian demand for cheap labour, particularly in the construction industry. They are here because we want them to be here. We are willing to employ them illegally and pay them low wages because they are outside the protection of the law.
"Raids on the Haitian community represent only one side of the enforcement necessary to stop the migration motor," the IOM said. "Both supply and demand must be constrained if word is to get back to Haiti that it is no longer possible for illegal migrants to regularize their stay after they arrive."
The Haitians who are here, raising their families, suffer from exploitation of their labour and a general lack of acceptance at all levels of Bahamian society. Assimilation is a difficult process, made worse by our general unwillingness to accept naturalised citizens as true Bahamians.
Many Haitians do not own televisions or computers due to limited incomes, lack of electricity supply, and language barriers. This means they are unable to fully participate in the issues of the day, and their children are likely to grow up handicapped.
But overall, 54.3 per cent of those surveyed in 2005 said they were “happy” or “very happy” to be living in The Bahamas: "This response may be interpreted as indicating that despite the difficulties which respondents face while living in the Bahamas, they felt better off compared to their situation in Haiti prior to migrating," the IOM said.
That's because in Haiti there is a greater than 34 per cent chance of dying before the age of 40, and you are likely to remain illiterate and in deep poverty your entire life.
Population Estimates
From 1963 to 2000, the "official" size of the resident Haitian community increased from just over 4,000 to more than 21,000, a growth of about 39% from one census to the next. And the percentage of Haitians relative to the overall Bahamian population also rose from just over 3 per cent to just over 7 per cent.
But the IOM says that putting great effort into estimating the size of the Haitian community may not be particularly useful if the population is dynamic, with many short-stay or flow-through members:
"Clearly, as far as policy makers are concerned, it is the long-stay members of the Haitian community who are of most interest as it is these who will utilise the services of the country. Thus, a distinction should be made between the total size of the Haitian community and the size of the resident Haitian community."
Projecting a 39 per cent growth from the 2000 census figure, the size of the resident Haitian community in 2005 could have been about 26,000, the report said, growing to 30,000 by 2010. But counting illegal immigrants is notoriously difficult, so the IOM sought to apply corroborating data.
For example, about 50,000 students were at school in 2005, of which 4,304 were Haitian. If this figure is inflated to allow for the fact that only 75 per cent of the school population was included in that data, then as many as 5,740 Haitian students were at school in 2005. If we allow for the 8 per cent of school-age children not in school, this would suggest that there are 6,250 school-age children.
In the IOM survey, students made up 21 per cent of the Haitian community. Therefore, if 21 per cent of the Haitian community corresponds to 6,250 children, the size of the resident Haitian community would be about 30,000.
However, the survey also found that at least 60 per cent of respondents had a passport issued by the Haitian Embassy. Respondents accounted for about a third of all Haitian household members. So if those respondents correspond to about 11,668 people (aged 18 and over) issued passports, the size of the Haitian community would be 56,000.
Extrapolating from the above, the IOM suggested a population range for the Haitian community in the Bahamas of 30-60,000.
I would like to know some information on the Golden Beach Property. ( Boucaan Resort ) Do you know if the Gov. is going to sell the property, or not to allow this project? Thank you!!
Posted by: Joshua McAbee | August 25, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Ive been approached to invest in Beka Developments LLC in Atlanta. CEO Daniel Evans is proposing a development called Boucaan on Grand Bahama does anyone have any info. on this development/company or does anyone know someone who has invested? There is no info in the public domain.
Posted by: Edward M | July 08, 2009 at 01:14 PM