Dozens of Bahamas evacuees were told to get off a ferry headed to the US
Source: CNN
Over the weekend, nearly 1,500 evacuees arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, on board the Grand Celebration humanitarian cruise ship. All of them were properly documented to enter the country, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.
But on Sunday, a different story.
In a social media video taken aboard a ferry boat leaving the Bahamas, posted on Twitter by CNN affiliate WSVN reporter Brian Entin, an unidentified person announces via a loudspeaker that anyone traveling to the United States without a visa must disembark.
Entin told CNN he was on a Balearia ferry from Freeport to Fort Lauderdale when the announcement was made Sunday. His video shows families with children disembarking the vessel. One woman told Entin that as many as 130 people left the ferry after the announcement.
...snip...
"Everyone who arrives to the United States from another country must present themselves to a CBP officer for inspection at an official CBP Port of Entry. All persons must possess valid identity and travel documents," the agency said. "CBP has a Preclearance operation in Nassau. CBP is committed to carrying out our duties with professionalism and efficiency -- facilitating lawful international travel and trade."
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/us/bahamas-dorian-evacuations-monday/index.html
Link to tweet
blm
(113,055 posts)skip fox
(19,358 posts)abqtommy
(14,118 posts)Can we do it now? NOW!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)He knows damned well that when peoples' houses blow away, their paperwork usually goes with them. But, hey, brown people, so screw 'em.
friend of m and j
(220 posts)Entire towns were completely destroyed and in other areas over 1/2 the houses were were blown away or sucked out to sea by the storm surge. It is estimated that 70,000 people are homeless. Yet the US immigration policies require that any one entering the country have certain documents- passports, visas, certificate from local police that they nave no criminal background, etc. Many of those trying to enter the US probably will want to stay in US permanently mainly because there is nothing for them to go back to. In all likelihood the Trump administration (Stephen Miller) will try to enforce the new requirements that they proposed last month; that they can prove they can support themselves without government assistance, speak English, and prove they are familiar with constitution and civics of our government.
When I was growing up and through most of my life (76 years old) the Us government would have waived immigration requirements the day after Dorian hit the Bahamas. And people from all over the US, especially the coastal regions and the SE US would have offered spare bedrooms or unused space in their homes to shelter these Bahamian refugees and help them start a new life in the US.
What has happened to us?
Every reader of DU should send a copy of this post to their Congress person and Senator.
Judi Lynn
(160,527 posts)Desperation mounts in Bahamas as shelters turn evacuees away
DÁnica Coto, Associated Press Updated 4:25 pm CDT, Tuesday, September 10, 2019
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) Desperation mounted in the Bahamas on Tuesday as hurricane survivors arriving in the capital by boat and plane were turned away from overflowing shelters.
As government officials gave assurances at a news conference that more shelters would be opened as needed, Julie Green and her family gathered outside the headquarters of the island's emergency management agency, seeking help.
"We need a shelter desperately," the 35-year-old former waitress from Great Abaco said as she cradled one of her 7-month-old twins on her hip, his little face furrowed. Nearby, her husband held the other twin boy as their four other children wandered listlessly nearby. One kept crying despite receiving comforting hugs.
Hurricane Dorian devastated the Abaco and Grand Bahama islands in the northern part of the archipelago a week ago, leaving at least 50 dead, with the toll certain to rise as the search for bodies goes on.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Hurricane-survivors-struggle-to-start-new-life-in-14426812.php