NASSAU-A group of Haitian migrants who demanded repatriation to their homeland last week got their wish today.
The Bahamas Immigration Department repatriated 75 Haitian migrants stuck at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre since March.
Border closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 stopped repatriations.
The 67 men and 18 women represented 56 percent of the population at the detention centre.
The immigration department said: “This repatriation was postponed in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The department will continue its commitment to carrying out the mandates of our agency to combat illegal migration by establishing effective border control management in compliance with the statute laws of our country.”
On June 2, some of migrants protested their indefinite detention and staged a hunger strike and behaved in a “belligerent” manner.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force, which is responsible for maintaining order at the Detention Centre, “de-escalated the situation.”
A short time later, the RBDF had to stop another disturbance at the centre after two Haitian detainees got into flight.
During the fight, other detainees escaped their dormitories and caused damage to the property.
The immigration department said the fight broke out because all of the migrants did not support the hunger strike.
As a result of the unrest, officials eventually increased security at the facility.
