President of the Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union, Deron Brooks told reporters on Tuesday the union opposes the appointment of new Director of Immigration, William Pratt.
Brooks said, “no government can hire a customs or immigration officer on the basis of a contract. You should come up through the ranks but that has not been happening.”
The union president continued saying, “the union cannot stand by and allow or facilitate through silence the breaching of the law and the defiance of this court order.” Brooks held up a written ruling of the court received in 2021 in favor of the position that the union is currently taking.
Brooks also questioned the prospects of young officers in the service should the practice, which started in the mid 90s, continue. “What does a young officer have to look forward to? What can they aspire to when you keep bringing in persons from the outside to occupy vacancies that persons that came up through the system could have occupied?”
William Pratt, who previously worked for the Department of Immigration, has been appointment to replace Keturah Ferguson.
