By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Chairman Fred Mitchell defended Immigration Minister Keith Bell during a PLP Fox Hill constituency meeting, insisting recent immigration controversies are “nothing new” and were handled similarly by previous administrations.

The Free National Movement has said Mr Bell superseded the authority of senior immigration officials many times.

In one case it was claimed that he allowed 65 Chinese nationals at the British Colonial Hotel to be released despite the irregularities immigration officials encountered.

FNM leader Michael Pintard also claimed Mr Bell approved work permits for people under dubious circumstances.

“You have to be fair about what is actually happening,” Mr Mitchell said on Monday night.

“Minnis and Pintard should not be pretending that every day a minister of immigration has to make decisions about whether or not you parole people out, who may not have all their documents.

“And it happens in many cases that immigration goes to a site and they find that well, people don’t have the exact documentation.”

Mr Mitchell said there should be no uproar about Mr Bell’s actions because they happen “all the time”.

“The company in this case that they’re making noise about said that it is not true that the people came into the country unlawfully,” he said. “The company also said that they would never have undocumented persons on their site.

“And the minister said that he agreed in the circumstances to allow them to regularise, and that happens all the time. So, people should not pretend that this is something new that’s happening.

“But the idea is to sully the name and make it seem like something crooked is going on. And they all know that when they were in government, the same thing happened so it’s nothing new.”