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Unrest in Bermuda over Immigration Bill, Protesters shut down HoA
The controversial Immigration Bill
The legislation, known as the Pathways to Status initiative, has been introduced to provide more permanence to guest workers who have met minimum threshold limits of residency in Bermuda.
The government introduced the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2016 to open the door for long-term guest workers to gain permanent residency after 15 years and Bermuda status (citizenship) after 20 years but the plan has divided Bermuda between government and opposition, the business class and locals and race is also playing a factor.
Home Affairs Minister Senator Michael M. Fahy, a Caucasian Bermudan of the ruling One Bermuda Alliance (OBA), has said amending the 1956 Immigration Act would bring Bermuda in line with the European Convention on Human Rights, generate revenue and help to address the decreasing labour pool.
The Bermuda Chamber of Commerce also supports the legislation adding, however, that efforts must at the same time be made to address the social needs of the community.
Large Opposition to Bill by local Bermudans
Politicians were due to debate the controversial bill on Monday but an estimated 1,500 protesters, who stayed in the House grounds all day, demanded the bill be withdrawn or else.
Speaking exclusively with our newsroom this morning, March 16, 2016 newly elected member of the House of Assembly from the Opposition PLP Diallo V. S. Rabain, who recently won a by-election in Constituency 13 (Devonshire North Central) said: “I am proud to see the people exercising the right to assemble and demonstrate peacefully for a cause they believe in. All the Government needs to do is withdraw this Bill and agree to immigration reform that includes all stakeholders. It is simple as that.”
Speaker of the House, Howard R. Horton, said the House would reconvene today Wednesday 16, March 2016 but with the overwhelming opposition to the Bill and thousands of protesters occupying the House of Assembly it’s unlikely.
Like the Virgin Islands (VI), Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory with a similar economy like the VI that depends on tourism and offshore financial services.
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43 Responses to “Unrest in Bermuda over Immigration Bill, Protesters shut down HoA”
Take a trip to Nassau who chased away most of their industry - it is decaying and lawless and they have armed guards in restaurants. Their town is predominantly caterered to cruise-shippers so largely soul-less and uninteresting.
By any sane analysis, BVI needs more people not fewer to increase economic activity. threfore, much better to retain those who have contributed for ten years and educate locals properly than rely too much on the conveyor belt of people coming for a year or so at a time.
You are talking hog wash. Pure hog wash. There are many expats who buy land build house and don't want status here. Eat sh*t
SOME WOMEN ESPECIALLY, don't want to wait. They prefer to go look for 'AN EGGIE" and marry him off to get belonger status OR
They prefer to go look for somebody's husband and mash up his family and 'poke-in' themselves in what was a thriving family before. OR..
They prefer to milk man for money to satisfy their many "wants" before learning to make their hard-earned money work for them.
Where have their values gone? Poor Mankind, buddy!! I SAID SOME WOMEN, YOU KNOW, SO IF THE CAP DOESN'T FIT YOU, DON'T WEAR IT.
Not when there are Bermudians with 15 years of training and degrees and been out of work for two years.
It's a slap in the face of every Bermudian.
This Canadian born minister Fahy is looking to manipulate the law to allow more whites into the country so his predominantly white oba government can have more voting power during elections.
We are not standing for that.. black and white Bermudians have come together for the first time on a political matter.
out.
Racial undertones (as now being witnessed in Bermuda) are only the tip of the iceberg in the Virgin Islands, but what is beneath is even more terrifying. I read a variety of international publications and there are a number of articles written where the (British) Virgin Islands name has been mentioned, but our local media, for whatever their reasons, refuse to publish these articles. We do not live in an isolated world, as some might want us to think. “What is being hidden in the dark would eventually be exposed by the light.” The Sunshine/Heaven that we believe (for some) we are living in right now may just turn out to be an illusion.
Educate and inform yourselves our People-
Political Observer, E. Leonard, RealPol, Dickson Igwe (in his folktales and analogies), Diaspora and others, have been making the case, in terms of addressing some of the troubling issues facing the Virgin Islands, for years, but since we seem not to pay their inputs “no serious thought,” we fail to read and interpret between the lines. The signs are clear. Take Heed Our People! I rest my case.