By Krystel Rolle
Nassau Guardian Staff Reporter
NASSAU, Bahamas — Nearly 1,900 undocumented migrants have been repatriated to their home countries from The Bahamas so far this year, according to statistics from the Department of Immigration released on Wednesday.
The overwhelming majority of the 1,894 people repatriated during this period were Haitian nationals.
Two major repatriation exercises took place this week.
On Wednesday, the department repatriated 37 Haitians, all males, to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The group was found to be residing and or working in The Bahamas without status, according to Director of the Immigration Department Jack Thompson.
The Bahamasair charter also transported 49 Dominican men to the Dominican Republic. Thompson said the Dominicans were convicted and fined for poaching in The Bahamas.
Those repatriations came one day after the department repatriated 115 Haitians to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, including the 86 people who came aboard a sloop nearly two weeks ago.
The other 29 Haitians sent home were being housed at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre after being discovered without status by immigration officials.
It usually costs the department about $26,000 per flight for repatriations when a Bahamasair jet is used.
The Haitian migrants were repatriated despite a request by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to suspend repatriations on certain grounds.
The government has said repatriations would continue unless there are drastic changes on the ground in Haiti warranting the cessation of repatriations.
