The Government has no intentions of delaying the tabling of revisions to the Immigration Law, contrary to a Cayman Net News front page headline that seemed to suggested the opposite last week.
Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts addressed the matter at the Cabinet press briefing Friday.
‘I have read the article, and understanding the Queen’s English the way I do, I don’t see any relationship between the article and what the headline says.’
The article discussed comments made by Mr. Tibbetts at the previous week’s Cabinet press briefing, in which he said the Government would still entertain input from the public on the proposed changes to the Immigration Law.
‘Of course… in the weeks to come we’ll be looking at any input that will make the law better,’ he said. ‘The whole intention has always been to make the law the best we can.’
Mr. Tibbetts said all opinions on the Immigration Law would be considered, but added that it did not necessarily mean they would be taken on board.
Although Mr. Tibbetts said the Government would accept input on the Immigration Law in the coming weeks, he made it clear that it did not mean the timeline was going to change.
‘I don’t want anyone to get the impression I’m saying anything different than any of my other public utterances,’ he said. ‘The [Immigration Law amendment] will be dealt with in the [Legislative Assembly] meeting that begins November 6th. I hope that clears that up.’
In the 13 October Cabinet press briefing, Mr. Tibbetts had specifically indicated there would be no time extensions.
‘There have been some requests for an extension of time,’ he said then. ‘But that is going to create too many difficulties…’
Mr. Tibbetts noted at the time that the current Immigration Law is still creating difficulties that needed to be corrected as soon as possible.
However, Mr. Tibbetts did not rule out subsequent changes to the Law if the need became apparent.
‘It is not something where we’re going to lay down the law and stamp it and that is the end of the story,’ he said.
Mr. Tibbetts also took issue with misleading newspaper headlines at that press briefing.
‘There are some newspapers that create headlines just to sell newspapers,’ he said. ‘I found that quite irresponsible.’
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