Monday, September 12, 2011

ARTICLE - HAITIAN INFLUX - TURKS & CAICOS

HAITIAN INFLUX THREATENS TCI
(Sun TCI) - By Hayden Boyce, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

The continued influx of Haitians to the Turks and Caicos Islands “threatens paradise”, according to a confidential cable from the United States of America’s (USA) Embassy in Nassau, The Bahamas. The US Embassy also declared in another confidential cable created on February 1st, 2010, that TCI’s “migrant handling capabilities are at breaking point”.

These two classified cables, which painted a very grim picture of the illegal immigration problem in the Turks and Caicos Islands, were among those released on August 30th about the Nassau Embassy, by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. The confidential cable which stated the Haitian influx “threatened paradise” was classified by a Robert Witajewski on January 27, 2004. That particular cable stated: “If the Bahamians are anxious and concerned about the impact of a large illegal Haitian presence in their country, citizens of the Turks and Caicos, with less than 10 percent of the population of The Bahamas, are petrified.

They fear the imminent loss of their cultural identity and, perhaps, political control of their country. But, like their neighbors to the North, they do not know how to resolve the problem. Even were they willing to increase taxes to acquire additional resources, a country of 30,000 could never create the impermeable boundary that would be required. And, like The Bahamas, TCI would have trouble functioning without the presence of inexpensive "gastarbiters" who perform the essential manual labor that drives the construction and service industries that are the country's economic foundation.”

The February 1st cable noted that 122 Haitian migrants arrived in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) January 27 and that they were detained and are being housed in temporary facilities at a gymnasium. A representative from the Governor's Office told US Coast Guard Liaison Officer (CGLO) that they have the ability to sustain the migrants for no more than four days.

This representative said they are concerned that 25 of the migrants are suspected gang members. One individual was on the TCI wanted list for aggravated burglary. According to the cable, the Governor's Office made an urgent request to the U.K. for funds, which “to our knowledge have not yet been provided”.

The document said TCI policy has always been to repatriate migrants within 24 hours because of their inability to house them for any extended length of time, but conditions in Haiti at that time have negated this policy. The cable continued: “The Governor's Office does not have enough funds for food or security to address the current migrant issue, and would be crippled by any further influx. Currently, a private company is providing security at the gym. Because of the financial crisis, the government may have to soon revert to using their limited Police Force to secure the gymnasium, which will divert forces from needed areas of the colony.”

According to the 2004 cable, in January of that year, senior officials from the US Embassy visited several Haitian communities that have arisen on Providenciales in the "Five Cays," "Blue Hills," and "Thompson Cove" areas of the island. Following are a summary of Embassy observations:

-- Border controls are essentially non-existent. Haitians can arrive/depart essentially at will by boat.

-- Slums and solid middle- and upper-class housing for Haitians co-exist. Rooms were being rented to Haitians for $50 a week.

-- Small shops were ubiquitous with one or more located on the corners of most roads or blocks. The neighborhood entrepreneurs have developed an informal system apportioning inventory so that there was little direct competition. There was also an informal system to maintain uniform prices for products among the shop owners

-- Few of the (mostly male) adult Haitians we met with spoke English. Haitian children, on the other hand, were rapidly acquiring a TCI accent from their schooling. Haitian children, again being allowed schooling, appeared eager in the mornings to depart for school, and equally happy returning from schools homework in hand.

-- Even the Haitian ghettos were quite crime free, nor was there a crime problem in nearby multi-million dollar ex-pat residences.

-- As with The Bahamas, work for illegal Haitian immigrants in the construction and service industries of TCI was readily available.

The cable said that then Chief Minister Michael Misick met with the US Ambassador on January 22 and he noted that the influx of large numbers of Haitians into TCI presents “serious health, cultural, financial, and national security concerns”.

According to the cable, Misick said Government is worried about the "revolving door" in which repatriated Haitian migrants return to TCI within weeks of being deported, adding that the cost of the "merry-go-round" is seriously impacting on the government's budget.

Misick also said that TCIG was unhappy with London's response to the migration situation, and that because London considers the Haitian problem to be immigration, not a national security issue, it is not providing the TCI Government with financial support to defray the expense of either enforcement or repatriation.

In a separate meeting chaired by the TCI senior civil servant, Acting Permanent Secretary William Clare, with the ambassador, DEA and OPBAT officials, Mr. Clare and a group of senior TCI police and immigration officials, the cable quoted Mr. Clare as saying “While we can hardly blame them for trying to escape (Haiti)...we in TCI simply cannot accommodate them at the rate they are coming in."

Clare, according to the cable, estimated that there were 15,000 illegal Haitians residing in a country of 30,000 citizens and only 6,500 registered voters.

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