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The Barbados Bar Association is urging the Joint Select Committee to defer the passage of the Immigration and Citizenship Bills, 2025.
It wants the pause until citizenship and immigration reform can be examined within its proper context and in a holistic manner.
The Association is arguing that since the right to citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution, if the nation seeks to expand the categories of citizenship through legislation, its constitutional foundation must first be considered.
President Kaye Williams made this position clear during today’s sitting of the Joint Select Committee (Standing) on Governance and Policy Matters on Immigration and the Barbados Citizenship Bill, 2025.
The Bar Association wants the Committee to prioritise examining whether there is a guiding policy document to inform the provisions of the Bill.
Chairman of the Committee, Marsha Caddle, has clarified that legislation is not always brought on the heels of a specific policy document.
She says it often flows from overall developing policies.
The Bar Association is also raising the free movement of CARICOM nationals as having an impact on the proposed legislation.
