The MP Michael Fahy and the One Bermuda Alliance are once again pushing their Pathways to Status scheme, ignoring the will of the people and failing to address the inherent lack of fairness in their approach to growing the population

Let’s be clear: the Progressive Labour Party believes in an immigration system that is transparent, compassionate and responsible. We believe that long-term residents who have contributed meaningfully to our society should have the opportunity to earn stability — but that it must not come at the expense of Bermudians.

Pathways to Status, as proposed by the OBA, has always tilted the scale towards those who already have advantage, and would grant property ownership and voting rights without fixing the systems that have long left Bermudians behind in our own country.

If you listen closely to the OBA, its approach has never prioritised fairness. Rather, its agenda has been more focused on making it easier for non-Bermudians to come in, earn the right to buy up Bermudian property and vote, then it has been on pushing for opportunities for Bermudians who have left our shores to come home.

That is telling.

While we are attacking the cost of living and trying to find solutions that will make Bermuda more appealing to not only the Bermudians that have left, and also for those considering leaving, the Opposition has shown more concern for importing the privileged than for welcoming back Bermudian talent.

That’s not immigration reform; that’s an anti-Bermudian approach.

The OBA has not explained how its proposal will:

• Protect Bermudian workers from being displaced

• Ensure affordable housing access for Bermudian families

• Prevent employers from exploiting cheap foreign labour

• Create space for young Bermudians abroad to return and thrive at home

Instead, it recycles a policy that sparked public outcry and protests because it was, and still is, deeply out of touch with the needs and expectations of the people of this country.

The PLP has taken a different path. We have developed immigration policies through public consultation, careful reform and a commitment to ensuring that Bermudians come first — not as an afterthought, but as a guiding principle.

Immigration reform should be about strengthening Bermuda, not surrendering it

The difference is clear. The OBA’s version of immigration reform focuses on making Bermuda better for others while leaving the rest of us in the cold.

No matter how it tries to repackage it, relaunch it or reintroduce it, Mr Fahy and the OBA must listen and accept that most Bermudians thoroughly reject their Pathways to Status scheme.

The days when Bermudians were forced to accept second-class citizenship is over and the PLP is committed to ensuring that the OBA will never be in the position to open the immigration floodgates and marginalise Bermudians.

• Iesha Musson was a Progressive Labour Party candidate in Pembroke South West (Constituency 20) at the February 2025 General Election