Haiti - FLASH : First flight of Haitians deported from the Bahamas expected today
This Monday, Jan. 14, the Bahamas authorities are expected to deport to Haiti, a first group of 45 Haitians out of 311 Haitian immigrants who have entered the archipelago irregularly since the beginning of 2019, according to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) which specifies that after the passage before the local courts, the process of extradition began for these Haitians in irregular migratory situation.
The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Hubert Minnis, who recently spoke on the issue of illegal immigration pointed out that the increase in the number of illegal arrivals of Haitians represented a threat to society, affecting the health system, education and the economy and a firm response will be given "We continue to deal with this issue very aggressively because it can pose a threat not only to our economy, but also to our national security." Let's recall that nearly 70,000 immigrants (18% of the population of the Bahamas) live on this territory, most of them in an irregular situation, including at least 50,000 Haitians.
RBDF officials pointed out that immigrant smuggling is on the rise because of the particular wind conditions that favor the arrival of boats from Haiti.
