The government is seeking court approval to demolish a portion of a shantytown on Abaco and two on New Providence, Prime Minister Philip Davis said.
Davis said the Office of the Attorney General filed a summons on Friday seeking permission to demolish the “expansion of a shantytown in Abaco and at two locations in New Providence”.
“I am coordinating a cross-government response with the senior leadership of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Ministry of Immigration [and Labour], the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Ministry of Works and the attorney general’s office,” Davis said.
“In the coming days, I will outline further steps on immigration, focusing on enforcement, protection of our borders and international cooperation.”
There is currently an injunction in place that bars the demolition of shantytowns in the country.
The injunction was granted in 2018 after some shantytown residents filed a judicial review of the Minnis administration’s plan to demolish shantytowns in The Bahamas.
Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson has yet to rule on the judicial review and the injunction was amended to include all of Abaco and New Providence.
Several new shantytowns have reportedly cropped up on Abaco in recent years.
The immigration issue is once again making headlines after boatloads of irregular Haitian migrants were intercepted in Bahamian waters in recent weeks.
A local group has used the issue to launch protests against the government, accusing the Davis administration of being soft on immigration.
Minister of Immigration and Labour Keith Bell has defended the government’s approach and has called for “sanity” on the issue.
Last September, Central and South Abaco MP John Pinder told The Nassau Guardian that shantytown structures have grown significantly in the years since Hurricane Dorian destroyed large shantytowns on Abaco.
They informed that since Dorian, The Farm shantytown in Treasure Cay has grown “exponentially” from 50 acres to “as much as 200 acres”.
The Department of Immigration will ramp up its special operations in the coming weeks to ensure people in shantytowns have legal status, Bell said.
