Progressive Liberal Party Chairman Fred Mitchell indicated that his party remains fundamentally opposed to the government’s bill to amend the Immigration Act set to be debated in the Senate today.

He said the bill will “loosen the controls that we presently have to protect the integrity of our borders and our workforce.” 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest has gone on record insisting that the bill’s critics simply do not understand what the government ‘s trying to accomplish, labelling such comments as “erroneous and mischievous”. 

He added that the bill will only target industries that aren’t represented in The Bahamas. 

Senator Mitchell said, “this is part 2 of the dismantlement of the Bahamianization policy actively underway by this FNM administration; Part 1, being the enactment last year of the Commercial  Enterprises Act.”

 He added, “these policy changes remove protections for Bahamians in our national economy and award new privileges and rights to foreign investors, foreign workers and foreign professionals in our country.”

The former Immigration Minister also said, “this FNM government has declared policy is that through these radical changes, Bahamians will get a ‘trickle down’ benefit.”

 These measures, he explained, will have the opposite effect and instead will further marginalize Bahamians in their own economy. 

The opposition opposed the measures in the House of Assembly  and Mr. Mitchell said that  it will oppose them in the Senate.

He invited Bahamians everywhere to stand in opposition to what he called this administration’s “aggressive reversal of advances made in this country since and as a result of the quiet revolution.”