The Nassau Guardian
Mitchell wants task force to probe human smuggling
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell said yesterday he will push for the appointment of a special task force to investigate and break up suspected human smuggling rings.
Mitchell’s comments came two days after 132 undocumented Haitian immigrants were apprehended during a routine patrol near Ragged Island.
The minister said he planned to discuss the matter in a Cabinet meeting yesterday. He said he would speak more on it in the House of Assembly today.
While large groups of illegal immigrants entering Bahamian territory by boat are nothing new, Mitchell said he finds it unlikely that the immigrants enter the country unaided by Bahamians.
He wants the proposed task force to gather intelligence that can lead to the detection and arrest of Bahamians who may be aiding the smuggling of illegal immigrants and profiting from the exercise.
“What is clear is this in my view is being driven by people in Nassau who are organizing these trips and I want to find out from my intelligence people why it is we can’t interrupt that and find out who’s driving this,” Mitchell told reporters before heading into Cabinet.
“This is just not people jumping on a boat. These things seem to be organized. It’s clear that they are paid for by people. So this is, I think, an organized smuggling ring.
“My intuition tells me that and we’ve got to find some way to interrupt that, to get at the people who are driving it here in Nassau.”
He said he has heard that some illegal immigrants pay as much as $5,000 per person to be smuggled into The Bahamas.
“I’m told very often they’re in communication with people by cell phone in Nassau . . .telling them where to come in, telling them where the police and the defence force are going to be,” Mitchell added.
“There are all these sorts of rumors going around, so I think we need to do more to interrupt on this side and put the pressure on people to see if there are people who are actually driving this from here and break up these smuggling rings.”
The latest group of immigrants that was caught brought the number of detainees at the Detention Centre to 331.
Mitchell said there is a concern about overcrowding at the facility, but he said he has been assured by Director of Immigration William Pratt that officials “can manage” the number of immigrants currently housed there.
He said officials are trying to organize repatriation of the immigrants within the next day or two.
Pratt said immigration officers picked up around 90 Haitian immigrants in Exuma last week during a special operation.
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