It’s been about a month since Hurricane Dorian decimated the Abaco and Grand Bahama islands, leaving a confirmed 60 people dead, 1,600 in shelters, and at least 400 still missing. One of the more immediate concerns after Dorian hit was what would happen to Haitian immigrants who were living in the Bahamas without documentation. Initially, the government said that it would hold off on deportations. In fact, during a visit to Abaco, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis personally confirmed that these undocumented immigrants would receive assistance.
Now these survivors are being told they can leave on their own—or be deported. “I serve notice to all those who are here illegally that they can leave voluntarily or they will be forced to leave,” Minnis said on Wednesday, in his first address to Parliament since Dorian reached the islands.
Aid missions are still ongoing.
In practice, it seems that no one will be pushed out of shelters at this time. Bahamas Attorney General Carl Bethel told the Miami Herald that no one in shelters has been asked for proof of legal status. “I can assure you that no person in a hurricane shelter anywhere in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is being subjected to any kind of immigration inquiry,” Bethel said. “None. That’s a firm and fixed policy of the government.”
While that’s at best a temporary comfort to those who have just survived an enormous natural disaster, Immigration Minister Ellsworth Johnson recently spoke on the subject and offered even less reassurance.
“I was careful to say that Hurricane Dorian did not work a miracle,” Johnson said. “So, if you were undocumented before Hurricane Dorian, you remain undocumented after Hurricane Dorian if you didn’t go through the right process.” BuzzFeed News reports that anyone letting “illegal persons” stay in a home or church could be charged $10,000 in fines or be subject to imprisonment. This sort of rule isolates undocumented people even further.
You might remember the inspiring story of a volunteer helicopter pilot who, by sheer luck and intuition, rescued 40 people who’d been trapped in a devastated village on Little Abaco. Many of those people were undocumented immigrants who feared seeking help because of the risk of being deported. Deportation fears actively prevent people from getting the help they need.
Some background on Haitian immigration in the Bahamas is important, too. After Haiti was devastated by an earthquake in 2010, many Haitians moved to the Bahamas. Unfortunately, legal residency is expensive and difficult to achieve in the Bahamas. Even being born in the Bahamas doesn’t guarantee citizenship in these circumstances.
The end result was that many Haitians ended up working low-paying jobs and trying to survive off the grid. These people are trapped in a circular problem: It’s difficult to have legal status in the Bahamas, own land, or even get a passport, yet the local economy often relies on (meaning: exploits) cheap, undocumented labor. Then, in the wake of another natural disaster, the undocumented are terrified of being displaced once again.
As of now, it’s unknown how many Haitian immigrants are in the Bahamas, and how many live on the islands directly impacted by the storm. A 2018 report issued by the U.S. State Department estimated that between 40,000 and 60,000 Haitians lived on the islands. What is clear, however, is that threatening to deport people who have just survived one of the worst storms on record is beyond inhumane.