Around 1,500 residents stand to obtain Bermuda status — thanks to a recently discovered immigration “loophole”, affirmed in a ruling by Chief Justice Ian Kawaley.

And it was claimed in the House of Assembly, as MPs clashed over the ruling’s implications, that a “slew” of Permanent Residents’ Certificate (PRC) holders have already applied to Immigration to get Bermuda Status.

However, Government has declared that all current applications have been put on hold until the matter is clarified.

Attorney General Trevor Moniz told MPs yesterday that Government had reached no decision yet over the surprise ruling, which could still be appealed further.

However, he said the One Bermuda Alliance refused to back a “premature” amendment proposed by the Opposition to strike down the culprit section of the law.

In the meantime, Junior Immigration Minister Sylvan Richards told the House that Government had enlisted a Queen’s Counsel with a speciality in human rights law to review the case.

The debate touched also on long-held sensitivities over the history of discretionary status grants, which were discarded in 1989.

Introducing the amendment for its second reading was Shadow Minister of Immigration and Home Affairs Walton Brown, who called it “a stopgap measure that allows us to step back and fully consider the most appropriate immigration policy for this country”.

Otherwise, he said, Mr Justice Kawaley’s ruling has created a situation in which legislation was decided by a judge instead of by Parliament.

The occasionally stormy debate saw Progressive Labour Party MP Walter Robain tell Government to tread carefully, adding: “There are a whole lot of hypotheses about the purpose of this.”

Shadow Health Minister Kim Wilson warned the OBA that Bermudians were “listening, and listening very intently” — while PLP MP Glenn Blakeney, accusing the OBA of already having its mind made up, told Government: “I warn you, it will be at your peril.”

However, Mr Blakeney got a reprimand from Speaker of the House Randolph Horton when he said: “This situation, for political expediency, to increase the voting registry, is exactly what’s intended by the OBA”.

The Devonshire North Central MP subsequently withdrew his remark.

The five-hour debate emanated from a ruling in May, in which Mr Justice Kawaley upheld a decision by the Immigration Appeals Tribunal for PRC holders Rebecca Carne and Antonio Correia to win full status.

In so doing, the Chief Justice ruled against Government’s repeated appeal of the Tribunal’s decision, and many PLP MPs questioned why the OBA didn’t support the Opposition legislation after Government had contested the status move in court.

However, the Attorney General said Government’s motive for the appeal had been to obtain clarification from the Chief Justice’s ruling.

“The position of this side is that it’s premature to decide exactly what the ramifications of this decision are,” Mr Moniz added.

According to the Department of Immigration, there are 1,340 PRC holders who potentially qualify, plus 150 children under the age of 22 “at the most”, he said.

The “loophole” technically became active in 2002, when the PLP government introduced PRC legislation — but the significance of the obscure clause 20B (2) (B) of the Act was only recently spotted.

Ms Wilson urged Government to support Mr Brown’s amendment, calling the status ruling a clear case of what is known as “judge-made law”.

“It’s an application or interpretation of the law that is contrary to the intent of Parliament,” she said, accusing the OBA of opposing the amendment solely “because it was raised by the Opposition”.

She added: “We’re talking about 2,000 people that, at the discretion of the Minister, can get Status tomorrow with the flick of a pen.”

But Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell responded that status in this case rested on eligible PRC holders meeting the criteria of immigration law.

“It’s not a matter of one individual making arbitrary decisions, saying ‘I want this person to get status’,” Mr Crockwell said, characterising it as “primarily a human rights issue”.

“We’re not talking about people who just showed up here — these are people who have been in this country for at least 25 years,” he said. “These are our neighbours — these are our friends.”

The Attorney General told MPs he agreed with Opposition concerns over the numbers of people who could become full status Bermudians.

Pointing out that even 1,000 people was a very large percentage on Bermuda’s scale, Mr Moniz said people were “entitled to be emotional about it, particularly in light of the difficult financial circumstances the country finds itself in”.

While Government didn’t support Mr Brown’s proposed amendment, the AG promised: “This will be before the House in the not too distant future.”

Opposition leader Marc Bean — who compared the OBA to prostitutes — said that the loophole had been created under a PLP Government, and it was the party’s intent to close it.

He added: “It’s a loophole that the One Bermuda Alliance is looking to exploit — it’s clear.”

Public Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin hit back: “To be told we are nothing more than ‘ladies of the night’ willing to be sold for 30 shekels is disgusting.”

And she dismissed as “ridiculous” that the OBA intended to exploit the legal loophole for political ends.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said Government would not support the bill “because of the fact we would like the Opposition to recognise we can put in abeyance any applications which have been made” until the implications of the ruling had been discussed, and grounds of appeal to the Privy Council were considered.