Protecting our borders is one of the most important and difficult tasks we face. This is not something special to Turks and Caicos. Some of the other Caribbean Overseas Territories are challenged by Cuban and other migrants trying to reach their shores, while across Europe, including the UK, countries employ hundreds to safeguard their land from illegal migration.
Last year we intercepted over 1,000 Haitians seeking to escape from their country and make a new life here. This year the figures are less than 300. It’s too early to be over confident but this suggests that we are making some headway in our efforts to discourage this perilous journey.
Our neighbour, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, suffers much more than Turks and Caicos, with often several hundred illegals arriving monthly on their shores. That’s why I and the Minister for Border Control, Don-Hue Gardiner, accepted without hesitation an invitation from the Bahamian Prime Minister, Perry Christie, to join him and his Government for talks recently about the issue, and to discuss the problem jointly with Haiti’s President, Michel Martelly.
We agreed with the Bahamians to set up a group, including our Police Force and the Bahamian Defence Force, to look at ways of working more closely together to combat illegal migration. This cooperation might include sharing intelligence – the Bahamians are evidently impressed by our radar detection system – and even allowing our police and navies to operate jointly. The Bahamians have recently acquired some new state of the art marine patrol vessels.
At our joint talks with President Martelly I stressed how much we valued the contribution of Haitians living legally in our community. They were a crucial, indispensable part of Turks and Caicos. But we deeply regretted the loss of life of their countrymen who had attempted to reach our shores on illegal sloops. President Martelly agreed without hesitation to do more to discourage these journeys, and to finalise an agreement between our two countries to put more formal measures in place.
I have no doubt that extreme poverty and scarce employment opportunities will lead many Haitians to attempt that risky journey to TCI or the Bahamas this year. But I hope that our visit to Nassau will help in a modest way to put in place even more stringent and effective measures to prevent illegals reaching our shores.