Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB) has expressed dismay following Government’s decision to withdraw its appeal on the right of PRC holders to seek Bermuda status.

In a statement, the group said: “It should by now be well understood that the loophole being exploited as a pathway to citizenship is the result of an error in legislation, being neither the intent nor the spirit of the law at the time.

“While some may feel that exploiting flawed legislation to achieve their ends is just, CURB views this as the continuation of a history of racialised immigration policy that has consistently been applied to the detriment of black Bermudians. This short-sighted, politically expedient ‘path of least resistance’ approach is wholly unacceptable in a modern democracy.

“The government, based on Senator Michael Fahy’s statement in the Senate yesterday, seems to have drawn the conclusion that withdrawing the appeal against Justice Kawaley’s decision ‘means that the avenue to Bermuda status for certain PRC holders that was created by the previous government in 2001 will stand’. This does not have to be the case. It is well within the government’s remit to withdraw the appeal and to suspend processing of applications for Bermudian status subject to the completion of comprehensive immigration reform.

“Given the passionate, increasingly vitriolic, public debate through opinion pieces, blog postings and social media sites it is clear that our community is broadly divided over this issue.”

The group repeated its call for the Government to put all status applications on hold and carry out a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration review with public hearings, taking into account “Bermuda’s oppressive and discriminatory history with regard to racialised immigration legislation and discriminatory voting rights”.

The statement continued: “We call on government to listen to the increasing concerns of further marginalisation and disenfranchisement of the Black Bermudian community, and ensure that the process is transparent and fully participatory, and that the end result forms a community consensus on a national immigration plan for the 21st century.”

While Home Affairs Minister Fahy told the House of Assembly that “578 PRC’s are of British descent, 545 PRC’s are of Portuguese descent, 157 or so are of Jamaican descent and the remainder hail originally from Canada, America, Philippines, Barbados, Ireland and many other countries, CURB said the Senator failed to acknowledge that the majority of PRC holders are white.

“CURB believes that continuing this pattern of ‘watering down’ the black Bermudian vote by instantaneously giving Bermudian status to over 1,455 individuals (and eventually spouses and children) is understandably viewed as one more attempt to minimise and marginalise the black vote,” the statement said. “Given this history, it is only fair and right, that government reviews Bermuda’s Immigration Policy in a public and transparent manner prior to awarding status to PRCs.”

The statement also noted CURB’s position paper on historic and contemporary racialised immigration policies, stating: “We believe that due to the suppression of black history the story of this oppression is not known by the majority of Black or white Bermudians, and thus without this information they cannot make an informed decision about this matter.”