Several organizations have raised concerns over the treatment of migrants. The International Organization for Migration said this month that fear of the authorities was “widespread, even among documented migrants and Bahamian nationals of Haitian descent, some of whom have lost their documents in the hurricane.”

Other rights groups have condemned the government’s plans to deport survivors, citing the trauma of the storm and the social turmoil in Haiti.

But in an interview with The Nassau Guardian, Mr. Johnson said that “at the end of the day, we must do what is in the best interest of the Bahamas while still protecting the dignity of the human person.”

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis has warned that undocumented migrants affected by Hurricane Dorian would not receive asylum or special treatment. He also warned Bahamian businesses not to hire migrants without work permits. Even those Haitians who were working legally but lost their jobs as a result of the storm were told that applications for new work permits must be filed from outside the Bahamas.

Many who face deportation were born in the Bahamas and have never known another home. Alicia Reckley, 37, a mother of five, was born in Haiti but is married to a Bahamian, and thus is exempt from deportation.

But Mrs. Reckley is worried about her 11-year-old niece, who was born in the Bahamas to Haitian parents and has neither Haitian nor Bahamian documents. The child’s mother was deported last year.

“She’s crying nonstop,” Mrs. Reckley said of her niece. “At night, all she does is cry.”

The shantytowns where many migrants lived have long been a lightning rod. Now, more than a year after the government embarked on a plan to eradicate shantytowns on Abaco, Dorian appears to have helped finish the job.