US embassy cable - 03NASSAU2321

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NASSAU 002321 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PRM FOR NANCY IRIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2013 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, PHUM, SMIG, BF, Migration 
SUBJECT: CHALLENGES OF ILLEGAL MIGRATION; CAN THE BAHAMAS 
MANAGE? 
 
Classified By: CHARGE ROBERT M. WITAJEWSKI FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D). 
 
SUMMARY 
 
1.    (C)  Nancy Iris, Deputy Director for the Bureau of 
Population, Refugee and Migration (PRM) visited Nassau from 
October 13 - October 17, 2003.  The Political Officer and Ms. 
Iris attended meetings with various government officials, 
members from NGOs, and toured the migrant detention center in 
Nassau.  With U.S. Coast Guard assistance, Ms. Iris was also 
able to visit Great Inagua, an island strategically located 
on the southern flank of the Bahamas, in an area particularly 
vulnerable to the passage of migrants and contraband.  A 
small, temporary  migrant facility has been established on 
Great Inagua, and The Bahamas has proposed constructing a 
larger, more permanent, and better-equipped detention center 
along with a military base on the island.  Ms. Iris concluded 
that a necessary first step in the process would be 
preparation of a master plan and cost estimate for  new 
facilities on Great Inagua prior to USG consideration of any 
investment.  Ms. Iris also began a dialogue with Bahamian 
officials regarding the development of a contingency plan in 
case of a large influx in migration.  Government and 
non-government representatives welcomed this proposal, 
admitting The Bahamas has no such plan in place. 
End Summary. 
 
 
DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION UNPREPARED FOR MASS MIGRATION 
 
2.    (C)  Nancy Iris was able to elicit candid responses 
from the Director of Immigration Vernon Burrows regarding the 
Bahamian lack of planning or resources available if a spike 
in the level of migration should occur.  He admitted, 
"Migration is a scary issue for us.  We can't handle more 
(migrants) than we already have."  According to Burrows, the 
detention center on Carmichael Road in Nassau has the 
capacity to house 500 migrants indoors, with enough land to 
erect tents to provide shelter for an additional 500 
detainees.  Currently in this Detention Center there are just 
under 200 people being detained, the majority being Haitians 
and Cubans.  If there should be a sudden increase in these 
numbers, there is no GCOB (Government of the Commonwealth of 
The Bahamas) plan for how to attain the additional food, 
beds, or shelter.  Burrows suggested that GCOB has no 
contingency plan for a spike in migration, although this was 
disputed by other government officials who claimed that a 
draft plan is under preparation. 
 
3.    (C)  Senior Immigration Official Mechelle Martinez-Amor 
explained the complexity and inefficiency of processing 
asylum request in The Bahamas.  Once Ms. Martinez-Amor, or 
one of her very few trained colleagues, has completed the 
interview, the information is sent to UNHCR in Washington for 
an assessment of the case.  Their recommendation is then 
forwarded to the Department of Immigration, who then passes 
it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Cabinet approval. 
She admits that this is a slow and laborious process, 
especially given that the final designation must be made by 
Cabinet, an unusually high level of decision making for such 
a determination. 
 
4.    (C)  Ms. Martinez-Amor told Ms. Iris that where Cubans 
are automatically pre-screened for asylum, Haitians must 
request the interview.  Few Haitians actually request an 
interview for asylum, perhaps because they believe their 
efforts would be futile.  Haitians are also at a disadvantage 
in the interview process because there is no full-time 
Creole-speaker at the detention center, and despite 
relatively high Haitian' migrants' rate of illiteracy, there 
is limited help in filling out the requisite forms for 
seeking asylum.  For calendar year 2002, only four migrants 
were given refugee status, according to Bahamian officials. 
 
 
SALVATION ARMY AND OFDA NOT IMPRESSED WITH GOVERNMENT PLANNING 
 
5.    (C)  Major Raphael Mason, Director of the Salvation 
Army in The Bahamas and local UNHCR representative, told Ms. 
Iris that he had made an offer to the Director of Immigration 
Vernon Burrows to provide meals and support for the detention 
center if the number of detainees exceeded the facility's 
capacity.  The Salvation Army currently operates a daily 
feeding program for 60-100 people.  The Salvation Army head 
disagreed with Immigration Head Burrows' assessment that the 
detention center could hold up to 1,000 migrants.  Mason also 
requested that UNHCR representatives come to The Bahamas to 
do an awareness program on migrant issues. 
 
6.    (C)  Ms. Beryl M. Armbrister, consultant to the Office 
of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), provided insight into 
the government perspective of contingency planning.  She 
noted that the head of the National Disaster Planning 
Commission is Mr. Carl Smith, Under Secretary of Finance in 
the Prime Minister's office.  Because this organization is 
not formal or legislated, and Mr. Smith's position is not 
permanent, Ms. Armbrister believes that this organization 
lacks continuity and effectiveness.  She proposes that this 
organization apply for a more formal status by achieving a 
legislated mandate under the Cabinet.  Political Officer 
learned that such a proposal is working its way slowly 
through the Bahamian system.  Apparently, it is "stuck" in 
the Attorney General,s office. 
 
 
DISCONNECT WITHIN GOVERNMENT REGARDING MIGRATION ISSUES AND 
GREAT INAGUA 
 
7.    (C)  Mr. Peter Deveaux-Isaacs, the Under Secretary at 
the Ministry of National Security, is convinced of the 
necessity for The Bahamas to develop a base on Great Inagua 
for the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.  Great Inagua is 
strategically located 50 nautical miles north of the Windward 
Passage, the maritime choke point between Haiti and Cuba. 
Much of the contraband smuggled through the Caribbean, be it 
migrants or drugs, is smuggled through the Windward Passage. 
Deveaux-Isaacs acknowledged that "as a sovereign nation, we 
can't always expect people to do things for us", referring to 
OPBAT and Coast Guard operations.  If possible he would like 
to build a multipurpose facility in Great Inagua to house 
500-600 people. 
 
8.    (C)  The southern flank of The Bahamas is a "nightmare 
to patrol", but with a fueling station at Great Inagua, 
Deveaux-Isaacs thinks the Defence Force could save a great 
deal of resources that are currently wasted by travel time to 
Nassau for refueling and crew rest.  Deveaux-Isaacs expressed 
a hesitancy to use the U.S. Naval Facility at Guantanamo Bay 
to refuel because he fears that utilization of this option 
might lead the USG to conclude that The Bahamas does not need 
to develop Great Inagua, relying instead on GTMO, and be less 
than forthcoming with assistance as a result.  Unlike his 
many counterparts in the government, Deveaux-Isaacs seems to 
believe that a Great Inagua based could be developed without 
U.S. assistance. 
 
9.    (U)  The migrants that are detained in Great Inagua now 
are held at the small RBDF site on the island adjoining the 
airport.  Because of its very limited resources, all effort 
is made to repatriate these migrants within 48 hours. 
Although strategically located to interdict Haitian migrants, 
the shallow marine basin in Great Inagua is incapable of 
handling any US Coast Guard vessels.  As a result, migrants 
must be shuttled off cutters to the island via small boats. 
 
10.   (C)  Ms. Donna Lowe, the Deputy Permanent Secretary of 
the Legal Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave a 
much different perspective than Immigration Director Vernon 
Burrows regarding a migration and natural disaster 
contingency plan.  According to Lowe, not only did she 
recommend that migration be taken into consideration after 
attending a UNHCR meeting in Miami in December 2002, but she 
also indicated that a plan to incorporate this contingency is 
in an advanced stage of preparation.  Apparently the 
Government of the Bahamas went to the University of Southern 
Florida to request assistance in this process.  She admitted, 
however, that getting the draft legislation is a slow process 
because it was not very high on the priority list at the 
Attorney General's office. 
 
11.   (C)  Ms. Lowe claims to have encouraged the Attorney 
General to make a migration contingency plan because both 
UNHCR and Amnesty International have continuously criticized 
The Bahamas for the treatment of migrants and the lack of a 
coherent plan for the future.  Although it wasn't to be 
distributed to the public until November 5, Lowe had seen an 
advanced copy of the new Amnesty International report on The 
Bahamas, and she admitted it is extremely critical of the 
government's handling of migration and detention issues. 
 
 
DETENTION CENTER NEEDS FUNDING 
 
11.   (C)  The Detention Center on Carmichael Road in Nassau 
appears inadequate in terms of space and services for the 
number of detainees currently housed there.  On the day of 
Ms. Iris' visit, there were a total of 156 migrants being 
detained. Of these there were 56 Haitians and 80 Cubans with 
the balance made up of migrants from Venezuela, Honduras, 
Jamaica, Ecuador, Nigeria, China, Cape Verde, the 
Netherlands, and Dominican Republic.  Haitians typically are 
repatriated much more quickly than other nationalities at an 
average of 5 days.  Cubans tend to be detained on average for 
approximately 6 to 8 months at a time while the Bahamian 
government negotiates with the Cuban government for their 
repatriation.  Children held at this facility are given no 
access to education even if their length of stay extends for 
several months.  Limited healthcare, restricted access to 
outside communication and legal advice, difficulty in 
obtaining toiletries and necessary clothing, and small food 
portions are the main complaints from migrants. 
 
12.   (C)  Five large cinder-block huts sit on the Detention 
Center land holding approximately 65 beds each.  The 
Department of Immigration handles the administrative tasks at 
the detention center, and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force 
handles all security issues.  Although a doctor was 
originally scheduled to be on-site on a daily basis, the 
Chief Immigration Officer Hubert Ferguson said in actuality 
the doctor pays weekly visits to the center.   Relatives can 
visit during visitation hours and bring goods. 
 
13.   (C)  Should the Detention Center ever receive a large 
increase in its numbers, Ferguson admitted that the sewage 
and plumbing systems, security and the current food 
distribution method would be woefully inadequate.  The 
Detention Center currently offers no opportunity for 
recreation for the migrants.  There is no television, books, 
or any other form of entertainment.  Some of the migrants are 
held at this center for months at a time with little contact 
to the outside world.  Ferguson admitted a fear of an 
uprising should the migrants' numbers increase.  Various 
ethnic groups of different languages and cultures are held in 
the same dorms at a time. 
 
14.   (SBU)  "Bahamas: Forgotten Detainees?  Human Rights in 
Detention", an Amnesty International Report released on 
November 5, 2003, paralleled Embassy observations of the 
conditions in the Carmichael Detention Center.  Bahamian 
Government officials have defensively responded that these 
reports were "unbalanced" while acknowledging that they are 
trying to improve both prison and detention facilities. 
(septel) 
 
COMMENT 
 
15.   (C)  GCOB officials in the Ministries of Labour and 
Immigration, Foreign Affairs and National Security all agreed 
that The Bahamas needs to add a mass migration contingency 
component to its ongoing natural disaster planning.  This 
idea was also supported by the Salvation Army, which 
identified areas in which it could be helpful in the event of 
such an emergency, and by AID/OFDA's regional consultant.  To 
date, the GCOB has taken its first wobbling step in this 
direction by moving to make its national disaster-planning 
group an official and legislated office. 
 
16.         (C) The state of planning to develop Great Inagua 
into a larger detention center with an augmented facility for 
the Royal Bahamas Defence Force depends heavily upon whom you 
talk within the Bahamian government.  Although all are in 
agreement that Great Inagua -- geographically close to both 
Haiti and Cuba -- is perfectly located for both a re-fueling 
station and migrant detention center, many are doubt that the 
Bahamian government will be able to commit sufficient 
resources to even initiate and see to fruition such a massive 
project given other, equally compelling, demands on its 
limited resources.  Prime Minister Christie argued to 
President Bush at their breakfast meeting in New York City 
recent breakfast meeting for help in developing Great Inagua. 
 The benefits of this development are numerous, but a major 
investment would be required to expand the harbor, dredge an 
entrance and construct a breakwater, build the detention 
center, upgrade airport facilities, and construct the needed 
infrastructure to provide communications water, electricity, 
and waste disposal.  Prior agreement on the conditions under 
which the USG could use these facilities would also be 
required and is likely to be a lengthy process as well. 
WITAJEWSKI