National

$2.2M On Repatriations This Year

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Department of Immigration detecting a significant spike in human smuggling this year, specifically from Cuba and Haiti.

Published

2 years ago

October 12, 2022

Berthony McDermott

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Department of Immigration detecting a significant spike in human smuggling this year, specifically from Cuba and Haiti. This as immigration officials say repatriations are an expensive venture.

Immigration officials say 2022 has been a significant year for human smuggling.

They say this year has seen a high number of migrants apprehended, resulting in the most money spent on repatriations.

According to Immigration Director Keturah Ferguson, $2.2M has been spent on repatriations.

A further breakdown of that figure revealing from January to June, $1.5M was spent.

July saw more than $30,000 spent, August saw over $703,000 spent and September and October 2nd saw over $32,000 spent on repatriations.

So far, 2,804 foreign nationals were apprehended and repatriated.

1992 were Haitian nationals, 542 were Cuban, 76 were Jamaican, 56 were Ecuadorians, 48 were Dominican and 90 were other nationalities like Brazilian, Russian, Pakastani, Trinidadian, and many others.

The director also explained that these repatriations are very costly.

In his national address Tuesday night, Prime Minister Philip Davis said The Bahamas doesn’t have the resources to host and support undocumented migrants.

The revelation came as he reiterated his decision for The Bahamas not to sign on to a declaration at the Summit of Americas last June.

Immigration Minister Keith Bell says in response to issue facing Cuba and Haiti, government is working to combat the vexing issue.