Bahamas deports in excess of 10,000 illegal immigrants over a two-year period

NASSAU, Bahamas, Jan 20, CMC – The Bahamas government said more than 12,000 people had been arrested here for violating immigration laws and just over 10,000 repatriated over the last two years.
Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell told Parliament that in 2015, a total of 4,957 people were arrested with 3, 379 being repatriated including “many who owed work permit fees”.
He said in 2015, at least 571 of those arrested were released.
He told legislators that last year, the authorities arrested 7, 357 people, repatriating 6, 869 and releasing 488.
Mitchell said that the major categories of those arrested were Cubans and Haitians, noting that last year, 1,287 Cubans were repatriated as compared to 153 in 2015.
He said in 2015, a total of 3,183 Haitians were repatriated with 5,241 being repatriated last year.
“You will see that there is a substantial jump in the figures of Cubans. We believe that this was largely driven by Cubans anticipating the end of the so called wet foot/dry foot policy,” of the United States, he said.
Washington last week announced an end to the policy that Cubans who landed in the United States a fast track to permanent residence and Mitchell said “the officials here have said there have not been any interdictions of Cubans since that policy was announced. We continue to watch the situation.”