YorickBrown
05-26-06, - 07:27 AM
(sigh)
:bahamas:
(on a side note....what is your opinion of (1) George Bush? and (2) his presidency? Just wondering).
Trying to affiliate me with the conservative right in the U.S., the viewpoint of one of the most hated administrations in the world, I see.
On this topic we cannot afford to be liberal because there are too many side effects of simply allowing persons to come here unabated and then handing them permits so that they can have some semblance of legality.
Read this (http://www.bahamasissues.com/showpost.php?p=51774&postcount=1)
While coming here gives illegal immigrants some hope, their desperation leads them into a cycle of exploitation by employers and landlords, which is why SOME of them choose the route of living free on someone else's land in shacks. When there are enough of them, like in the Mudd and Pigeon Pea in Abaco for example, the Bahamian government then realizes that they cannot move that illegal community without volatility, despite the residents' illegality. Look what happened when just a few houses burned down. I will never forget the statement by an immigrant that was broadcast on ZNS TV (I am repeating this example yet again, because it looks as if some people conveniently forget):
"If nobody was around I woulda kill someone!"
Most people are humbled by the accidental loss of a house; instead we had immigrants fighting with and attacking the fire-fighters who were trying to help. And we wonder why the Mudd and Pigeon Pea communities are still standing - the Bahamian government would not dare go in that community and begin to break down those illegally built houses. Neither are the Haitians and Bahamians of Haitian descent in that community opting to leave that area willingly, despite being given eviction notices. They know that they are breaking the law in more ways than one in those communities, but yet they have established their own rule of law contrary to Bahamian law.
Do you understand now why it is imperative to take a hard line at this time on immigration? Bahamians have tried a soft and gentle approach and we ended up with several illegal and potentially volatile communities like the aforementioned, whose two thousand plus residents’ continued presence spits on Bahamian rights and laws every day that they illegally remain in that place.
Any children that illegal immigrants have are automatically at risk of facing deportation to a nation that they know absolutely nothing about and we are then subjected to making the decision of whether or not to go through with it. Obviously the Bahamian government usually decides on allowing them to stay, but even that creates another problem - our infrastructure here in The Bahamas was not meant to cope with this exponential explosion of our population. We need to take on the principles of the Dominican Republic and write it into our constitution that children of illegal immigrants are not entitled at all to Bahamian citizenship. “The sins of the father shall fall on the heads of the children” (Was that a murmur of disapproval I just heard?)
The best analogy for this situation that The Bahamas is a small boat that was only meant to carry and function with a certain number of people. We have persons who are drowning and struggling in the water, but for the most part Bahamians are aware that we cannot help all of them. Unfortunately someone who didn't think ahead started reaching over the side of the boat and letting the drowning people on board and now the boat is slowly sinking. We now have to make the decision to toss a few persons who weren’t in the boat in the first place, especially since we now find that the people who initially were given a hand up into the boat are now reaching out their hands to others and pulling them out of the water. But wait, the ones that were saved already don’t want us throw out anyone, they claim that we are cold hearted, bigoted and racist for trying to ensure stability in the boat. They don’t realize that the boat can only hold so much, and neither are they planning ahead for what to do if and when the boat collapses. They only know how it feels to be drowning, so they merely try to help others in that situation. Eventually the boat will collapse, if this trend continues.
Sympathy for others must have its limitations. Once a person’s future state of stability and prosperity is endangered by their humanitarian efforts, those efforts must cease. Otherwise we ourselves become another humanitarian case.
The hard line must be taken on this immigration issue and Haitian immigrants and Bahamians of Haitian descent need to realize this most of all. They need to understand that The Bahamas can only do so much. The more that they misinterpret Bahamians voicing their concerns about this situation, the worse this country will end up being in the long run. We are not the US; We are The Bahamas, a small country of only 350,000 that is being infiltrated by an immigrant population of millions. Desperation and sympathy often overrides logic, but now Bahamians and immigrants need to be on one accord to deal with the illegal immigrant situation. All of our livelihoods are at stake. There is no time to mince words on this issue, whether you are liberal or conservative.
(I love essays. Can't you tell?)
:bahamas:
(on a side note....what is your opinion of (1) George Bush? and (2) his presidency? Just wondering).
Trying to affiliate me with the conservative right in the U.S., the viewpoint of one of the most hated administrations in the world, I see.
On this topic we cannot afford to be liberal because there are too many side effects of simply allowing persons to come here unabated and then handing them permits so that they can have some semblance of legality.
Read this (http://www.bahamasissues.com/showpost.php?p=51774&postcount=1)
While coming here gives illegal immigrants some hope, their desperation leads them into a cycle of exploitation by employers and landlords, which is why SOME of them choose the route of living free on someone else's land in shacks. When there are enough of them, like in the Mudd and Pigeon Pea in Abaco for example, the Bahamian government then realizes that they cannot move that illegal community without volatility, despite the residents' illegality. Look what happened when just a few houses burned down. I will never forget the statement by an immigrant that was broadcast on ZNS TV (I am repeating this example yet again, because it looks as if some people conveniently forget):
"If nobody was around I woulda kill someone!"
Most people are humbled by the accidental loss of a house; instead we had immigrants fighting with and attacking the fire-fighters who were trying to help. And we wonder why the Mudd and Pigeon Pea communities are still standing - the Bahamian government would not dare go in that community and begin to break down those illegally built houses. Neither are the Haitians and Bahamians of Haitian descent in that community opting to leave that area willingly, despite being given eviction notices. They know that they are breaking the law in more ways than one in those communities, but yet they have established their own rule of law contrary to Bahamian law.
Do you understand now why it is imperative to take a hard line at this time on immigration? Bahamians have tried a soft and gentle approach and we ended up with several illegal and potentially volatile communities like the aforementioned, whose two thousand plus residents’ continued presence spits on Bahamian rights and laws every day that they illegally remain in that place.
Any children that illegal immigrants have are automatically at risk of facing deportation to a nation that they know absolutely nothing about and we are then subjected to making the decision of whether or not to go through with it. Obviously the Bahamian government usually decides on allowing them to stay, but even that creates another problem - our infrastructure here in The Bahamas was not meant to cope with this exponential explosion of our population. We need to take on the principles of the Dominican Republic and write it into our constitution that children of illegal immigrants are not entitled at all to Bahamian citizenship. “The sins of the father shall fall on the heads of the children” (Was that a murmur of disapproval I just heard?)
The best analogy for this situation that The Bahamas is a small boat that was only meant to carry and function with a certain number of people. We have persons who are drowning and struggling in the water, but for the most part Bahamians are aware that we cannot help all of them. Unfortunately someone who didn't think ahead started reaching over the side of the boat and letting the drowning people on board and now the boat is slowly sinking. We now have to make the decision to toss a few persons who weren’t in the boat in the first place, especially since we now find that the people who initially were given a hand up into the boat are now reaching out their hands to others and pulling them out of the water. But wait, the ones that were saved already don’t want us throw out anyone, they claim that we are cold hearted, bigoted and racist for trying to ensure stability in the boat. They don’t realize that the boat can only hold so much, and neither are they planning ahead for what to do if and when the boat collapses. They only know how it feels to be drowning, so they merely try to help others in that situation. Eventually the boat will collapse, if this trend continues.
Sympathy for others must have its limitations. Once a person’s future state of stability and prosperity is endangered by their humanitarian efforts, those efforts must cease. Otherwise we ourselves become another humanitarian case.
The hard line must be taken on this immigration issue and Haitian immigrants and Bahamians of Haitian descent need to realize this most of all. They need to understand that The Bahamas can only do so much. The more that they misinterpret Bahamians voicing their concerns about this situation, the worse this country will end up being in the long run. We are not the US; We are The Bahamas, a small country of only 350,000 that is being infiltrated by an immigrant population of millions. Desperation and sympathy often overrides logic, but now Bahamians and immigrants need to be on one accord to deal with the illegal immigrant situation. All of our livelihoods are at stake. There is no time to mince words on this issue, whether you are liberal or conservative.
(I love essays. Can't you tell?)