美国国家公共电台 NPR Bahamians Who Fled Dorian Face An Uncertain Future In U.S.（在线收听）

Bahamians Who Fled Dorian Face An Uncertain Future In U.S.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Some 4,000 Bahamians have evacuated to the U.S. since Hurricane Dorian struck earlier this month. Many landed in Florida, where NPR's Greg Allen caught up with some of them.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Kendieth Russell Roberts knows she's one of the lucky ones. She lost at least seven members of her extended family in Dorian. After weathering the storm - one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic - she's now safe and living with her sister in Pembroke Pines, Fla. And she's with her 5-year-old son.

KENDIETH RUSSELL ROBERTS: There he is. That's Malachai (laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF KISSING)

ROBERTS: You had a good day?

MALACHAI: Mmm hmm.

ROBERTS: (Laughter).

ALLEN: Roberts is from Freeport on Grand Bahama island. Her neighborhood flooded badly in the hurricane.

ROBERTS: The water came up to 25 feet, 33 feet some areas. When you go in the yards, you see the homes, and you see the kids' toys in the yard. And you see the beds and the furniture. It's just so sad.

ALLEN: Roberts and her husband had been through other hurricanes and thought they were ready. But Dorian was unlike anything they had ever experienced.

ROBERTS: And, yeah, we knew the - a hurricane was coming. But we didn't expect that. It just blew, and rain and flood for, like, 50 hours. That was insane.

ALLEN: With the intense wind and rain, no power, limited water and food, Roberts says the storm was hard on everyone. But it was traumatic for her son.

ROBERTS: It's hard explaining to him that the hurricane is doing it. He was literally having an anxiety attack, literally - like, panic and breaking down.

ALLEN: Roberts and her son were able to get one of the first vessels out from Freeport after the storm, a cruise ship that ferried more than 1,000 Bahamians to Florida. Her husband was forced to remain behind because he didn't have the proper documents. Kendieth Roberts' sister, Donnette Russell Love, is an immigration lawyer with a lot of Bahamian clients. She says U.S. immigration restrictions have made it difficult for many Bahamians to come here even temporarily after the hurricane.

Under a longstanding agreement, Bahamians don't need a visa to take a commercial flight to the U.S., just a passport and a police document showing they don't have a criminal record. But with the airport closed on Grand Bahama, the only way off the island now is by boat. And under the current rules, Love says, that means Bahamians first have to go to the U.S. embassy in Nassau to get a visa.

DONNETTE RUSSELL LOVE: All the free boat rides that they're given, they can't benefit from them. I mean, they can be living on a raft, and they can't benefit from them because they don't have a visa.

ALLEN: Love says, in Nassau, many of her clients, even those with proper documents, increasingly are having trouble getting cleared to fly to the U.S. A Customs and Border Protection spokesman says the number of Bahamians rejected for clearance in Nassau isn't immediately available. Love says many Bahamians, like her sister, come here for their children.

LOVE: The big thing for a lot of parents is that the schools are all closed on the islands. And they're fighting to find another way for their children.

ALLEN: The main concern Love says she's hearing from her clients is that they want authorization to work while they're here. So far, Love says there's no sign the federal government is going to allow that.

LOVE: They want to be able to pay their own bills. They want to take care of themselves. They're not asking for charity. They want to know, how can I work?

ALLEN: Kendieth Russell Roberts is focused on getting her son settled. He's a first-grader just finishing his second week in a new school in Florida. But she says he still worries about Dorian and what it did to his home.

ROBERTS: I talk to him a lot. And he keeps saying, Mommy, I don't want to go to that city right now. I don't want to go to that city.

ALLEN: Roberts bears her own scars from Dorian. Asked if she'll return eventually, she says the Bahamas is a great place, but bad things happened. For right now, I'm good. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.