The Bahamas government says it will deport undocumented migrants who survived the passage of Hurricane Dorian on September 1 and are now living in shelters.
Immigration Minister, Elsworth Johnson, was quoted by Caribbean News Service as saying that the shelters will not be used “to circumvent the law”.
The Category 5 storm, with winds in excess of 180 miles slammed into The Bahamas killing at least 56 people and causing widespread destruction mainly on Grand Bahama and Abacos islands.
The government-appointed coordinator of hurricane relief efforts in Abaco, Algernon Cargill, also warned undocumented migrants against any plans for returning to Abacos Islands.
Soon after the hurricane swept through the archipelago, Johnson had announced that the government would not carry out immigration exercises at shelters for hurricane victims.
But he told the newspaper that migrants who have no legal right to be in country face deportation regardless of where they are in the Bahamas.
The newspaper reported that among the areas most impacted by Hurricane Dorian were shantytowns on Abaco, home to a significant migrant population and that thousands of people were evacuated from Abaco and Grand Bahama after the storm. Many of them are now in New Providence in shelters.
