Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

December 11, 2024 – A misleading story carried by several US news organisations demanded a firm response by both The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands governments, when news reports cited these countries as among those on a list of possible deportation centers being wooed by the in-coming Trump Administration.

It seemed a mischievous attempt to gaslight these smaller nations about the newly elected president and his popular campaign promise to send illegal migrants home, in massive numbers.

Soon, it would be explained that there was no call or direct offer to these governments by the Trump Administration team and, more significantly, no interest by either country to welcome in U.S. deportees.  Still both the prime minister of The Bahamas and the Immigration and Border Services minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands immediately issued firm statements rejecting the idea.

“The Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands categorically states that we will not, under any circumstances, accept deportees from the United States or any other nation who are not citizens of Turks and Caicos. Our country’s immigration policies are clear and firmly rooted in the principles of sovereignty, the protection of our borders, and the welfare of our people,” said Arlington Musgrove, TCI Minister of Immigration and Border Services.

There was a similar reaction from The Bahamas; the Office of the Prime Minister informed also there has been no push from the US regarding the request.

“This matter was presented to the Government of The Bahamas but was reviewed and firmly rejected by the Prime Minister.

The Bahamas simply does not have the resources to accommodate such a request. The Prime Minister priorities remain focused on addressing the concerns of The Bahamian people,” said the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Bahamas in a follow up statement gave some history and offered insight on the origin of the proposal, which dates back to the Summit of the Americas staged in Los Angeles two years ago.

“In June of 2022, Prime Minister Philip Davis attended the Summit of the Americas, where regional migration was one of the items on the agenda.

During the Summit, countries were asked to sign a declaration on migration, which included language suggesting that countries support and host undocumented migrants.

The Bahamas did not sign this declaration, although 20 countries in the region did.

The Prime Minister made it clear to President Biden that our country will not bear this burden. We need to devote Bahamian resources to solving Bahamian problems.”

Both The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands have added to their initial statements, confirming that no one from president-elect Donald Trump’s office had been in communication on the touted plan.

“To be clear, our office responded to the proposal as characterized by the press, rather than any formal proposal made to us by President-elect Trump’s transition team, with whom we have not discussed the matter,” published The Bahamas.

More accurately, there was a news report carried by the BBC which exposed Panama’s experience in this U.S. procedure, which deports illegal migrants to the country where they entered the United States, despite their nationalities.

The BBC news story said: “The Biden administration said it had agreed to pay for the flights as part of its efforts to deter irregular migration.

A group of 29 Colombians with criminal records were the first to be returned on Tuesday.

Under an agreement jointly signed by the Panamanian foreign minister and US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the US has committed to helping Panama with $6m (£4.6m) for equipment, transportation and logistics to “remove foreign nationals who do not have a legal basis to remain in Panama”.

In the case of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands, many from these two Small Island Developing States were stunned at the audacity and ramifications of such a plan.

“We are deeply concerned about any suggestion of displacing individuals to countries with which they have no connection. Such policies disregard the cultural, social, and economic implications for receiving countries and the humanitarian impact on the individuals affected.

We remind all stakeholders that Turks and Caicos is already facing significant challenges managing irregular migration and the accompanying strain on our resources. We will not permit external policies to exacerbate these challenges, nor undermine or dictate our national security,” said Minister Musgrove.

One attorney, speaking on a Nassau television show explained that based on current U.S. law, The Bahamas must now do a better job of scrutinising who is allowed into the country, ensuring that these islands are not used as a transit for immigrants who are targetting the United States as their final destination.

Panama’s new president, in a bid to uphold his presidential promise to voters, agreed to end his country being used as a crossing point for Haitians, Venezuelans and Colombians moving from South America into North America.

The BBC said: “Mr Mulino campaigned on a promise to “close” the Darién Gap, the dangerous stretch of jungle which more than half a million migrants crossed last year on their way north from South America.

The Biden administration said it had agreed to pay for the flights as part of its efforts to deter irregular migration.”

It is well known that Haitians, fleeing their poverty stricken island are sometimes successful in making landfall, illegally, in the United States after travelling through the Turks and Caicos and The Bahamas.

If The Bahamas is not careful, it “…could end up being forced to take these immigrants in.”

The Turks and Caicos could heed the same warning.

Statistically though, the number of those departing the neighbouring archipelagos to reside illegally in the U.S. is miniscule, however, it would be well within bounds for ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) to deport undocumented individuals back to the country of departure.

Thankfully, most illegal migrants opt to be repatriated to their home country.

It is estimated there are over 11 million undocumented migrants currently in the United States. U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to start with illegal migrants who are convicted criminals.

Garfield Ekon

Staff Writer

Haiti, December 9, 2024 – The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is warning that as Haiti grapples with escalating violence and systemic collapse, its children are bearing the brunt of a multipronged crisis that threatens their lives, safety, and future.

UN officials and humanitarian leaders used the ECOSOC meeting last Monday December 2 to highlight the direct conditions in Haiti, where violence has severely disrupted life in the  Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

They have called for immediate action to support its youngest citizens.

The UN said 5.4 million people, half the population are facing acute food insecurity and 700,000 displaced, urgent international intervention is needed to address a crisis compounded by armed groups violence, economic instability, and insufficient humanitarian funding.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, who took up his post two weeks ago, spoke of the devastating impact of the crisis on children. “The children of Haiti are displaced. They are malnourished. They live in fear, their neighbourhoods controlled by armed groups.”

The Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell said “we estimate that children account for 30 to 54 per cent of armed group members while the total number of children recruited by armed groups has jumped by 70 per cent over the past year.”

She also highlighted the collapse of essential services, with 1.5 million youngsters losing access to education and healthcare facilities shutting down due to violence and insecurity.

Despite the challenges, UN agencies and partners continue to deliver aid.  Facing a surge in displacement and food insecurity, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has announced an expanded response, targeting nearly two million people with emergency relief.

“We have been delivering record amounts of food assistance to Haitians in Port-au-Prince and across the country these past few months and will do even more in the coming weeks,” said the WFP’s Country Director, Wanja Kaaria.

The WFP also supports local economies by sourcing 70 per cent of school meal ingredients from Haitian farmers, fostering long-term resilience and development.

Yet, the scale of the response is dwarfed by the growing needs as speakers at the ECOSOC session stressed the need for immediate international action to close funding gaps, protect children from exploitation, and rebuild essential services.

UN Special Representative Maria Isabel Salvador, who also heads the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), urged the global community to address root causes of the crisis.

“The challenges Haiti faces are immense, but one truth is undeniable: no progress can be made without addressing the pervasive insecurity caused by armed gangs.  UNICEF and other humanitarian leaders called on the UN Security Council -backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission and Haitian authorities to prioritise child protection during operations, ensuring safe reintegration for children recruited by armed groups.

Garfield Ekon

Staff Writer

Barbados, December 9, 2024 – When large swathes of invasive seaweed started washing up on Caribbean beaches in 2011, local residents were perplexed.  Soon, mounds of unsightly sargassum, carried by currents from the Sargasso Sea and linked to Climate Change – were carpeting the region’s prized coastlines, repelling some holidaymakers with the pungent stench emitted as it rots.

Precisely how to tackle it was a dilemma of unprecedented proportions for the tiny cluster of tourism-reliant islands with limited resources.

In 2018, Barbados’ Prime Minister, Hon.  Mia Mottley declared the sargassum situation a national emergency.  Now, a pioneering group of Caribbean scientists and environmentalists hope to turn the tide on the problem by transforming the troublesome algae into a lucrative biofuel.

They recently launched one of the world’s first vehicles powered by bio-compressed natural gas.  The innovative fuel source created at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Barbados also uses wastewater from local rum distilleries, and dung from the island’s indigenous blackbelly sheep which provides the vital anaerobic bacteria.

The team says any car can be converted to run on the gas via a simple and affordable four-hour installation process, using an easily available kit, at a total cost of around $2,500 or £1,940.

Researchers had initially looked into using sugarcane to reduce reliance on costly, imported fossil fuels and help steer the Caribbean towards its ultimate target of zero emissions.

However, despite Barbados being one of few islands still producing sugarcane, the quantity was deemed insufficient for the team’s ambitious goals, explains the project’s founder Dr. Legena Henry.

Dr. Legena Henry grimaces as she points out that while some natural resources are limited, when it comes to the unwelcomed seaweed, she says sargassum is something “we will never run out of”.

“Tourism has suffered a lot from the seaweed; hotels have been spending millions on tackling it.  It’s caused a crisis,” Dr. Henry, a renewable energy expert and UWI lecturer, continues.

The idea that it could have a valuable purpose was suggested by one of her students, Brittney McKenzie, who had observed the volume of trucks being deployed to transport sargassum from Barbados’ beaches.

“We’d just spent three weeks researching sugarcane.  But I looked at Brittney’s face and she was so excited, I could not break her heart,” Dr. Henry recalls.

“We already had rum distillery wastewater, so we decided to put that with sargassum and see what happened.”

Brittney was tasked with collecting seaweed from beaches and setting up small scale bioreactors to conduct preliminary research.”  Within just two weeks we got pretty good results.  It was turning into something even bigger than we initially thought.”

The team filed a patent on their formula and, in 2019, presented their project to potential investors during a side meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Upon touchdown back in Barbados, Dr. Henry’s phone was “buzzing” with messages of congratulations – including one from US non-profit Blue-Chip Foundation offering $100,000 to get the work off the ground.

Dr. Legena Henry

Biologist Shamika Spencer was hired to experiment with differing amounts of sargassum and wastewater to figure out which combination produced the most biogas.

She says she leapt at the chance to take part.  “Sargassum has been plaguing the region for several years,” Ms. Spencer, who is from Antigua and Barbuda, explains.  “I had always wondered about this new seaweed ruining the beaches in Antigua, and when I came to Barbados to study, I noticed it here too.”

The algae does not just threaten tourism.  They also pose a threat to human health through the hydrogen sulphide they release as they decompose, along with native wildlife like critically endangered sea turtle hatchlings which get trapped in thick mats of beached seaweed.

Water pollution and warming seas are credited with the upsurge in sargassum, another cataclysmic result of climate change that the Caribbean has done little to contribute to but often bears the brunt of.

Calls for eco reparations from leaders including Barbados’ leader Mia Mottley and Antigua’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne have been clamorous in recent years as the region battles ever-rising sea levels and worsening storms.

While waiting for those to bear fruit, this project represents one example of the Caribbean taking its environmental future into its own hands.

This past September, Rum & Sargassum, the Barbados-based start-up founded by Dr. Henry introduced the world to its brand of  RNG, Renewable Natural Gas.  The unveiling featured a vehicle rigged to run on the innovative cocktail of rum distillery wastewater, Blackbelly sheep manure and yes, that no longer pesky but valuable Sargassum seaweed.