While on the island of Abaco Prime Minister, the Hon. Philip Davis responded to questions from members of the media on immigration. Davis responded to criticism from former Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis on his various statements on the subject of immigration and the removal of shanty towns.
Davis said, “there’s no pandering or shift of my tone, that’s what I’ve said and I continue to say that. But I also say that the application of the law would be done compassionately and humanely. And so if he considers that the law ought to be enforced in a way that is not compassionate which is that he’s prone to do, I have to appreciate that we’re still dealing with humans. As I said just the other day, I’m reminded that when I was in my Sunday school, we were all taught the song that Jesus loves the little children all the little children of the world. Red, yellow, black or white, they are all precious in his sight and so we all are. And so in dealing with our people we appreciate that we are all of the human race.”
One the question of when shanty towns will be demolished, the Prime Minister said, “that will come after some preliminary steps have been taken. As I indicated before, you don’t want to solve one problem and then create another. You don’t want to demolish places where people are living and they have no place to stay that’s one issue. Also what I’ve said and you would have heard me say that first of all, documented Haitians who are in shanty towns, we are going to find who their employers are and oblige those employers to find a place for them to stay. Undocumented persons living in this shanty towns we will process them and repatriate them. Bahamians who are living in the shanty towns we’ll speak to them and ask them to move out, that’s a process.”
