• The following statement was submitted on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 by One Bermuda Alliance MP Sylvan Richards, Shadow Minister of Home Affairs.
Sylvan Richards, OBA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs

Why is the Government only now trying to establish how many mixed-status families there are in Bermuda?

I am extremely uncomfortable with these families being asked to line up at a gym in order to be counted as the Minister is asking them to do. I think it is distasteful that they should be treated in such a demeaning way.

It also belies belief that this Government, which will have been in power for two years on July 16, has not yet collated these numbers properly.

In my opinion, that in itself speaks to a lack of sincerity about getting this issue sorted out, let alone actually tabling legislation that the Minister promised would be tabled in July, which begins on Monday.

In our reply to the Budget this year, we asked if immigration would be Bermuda’s Brexit. Whether a political party here would be split by the immigration issue, as Brexit has split both the Conservatives and Labour parties.

Is that what is happening now with the PLP Cabinet? Given the delays and given the change of Ministers, I can only assume there is a lack of consensus on this issue within the Government’s ranks.

It is time for the Government to stop spinning its wheels, to get on with it and to do what is right for those persons in mixed-status families.

MP Sylvan Richards, OBA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs