Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller said yesterday that justices of the peace are "some of the biggest crooks in town".

"They come to you as an MP and say, 'Mr. Miller, I want to be a justice of the peace'," he said during debate on the Immigration Amendment Bill 2015.

"You say okay. They will marry you or give you birth certificates yet they never saw you in their life.

Bain and Grants Town MP Dr. Bernard Nottage and House Speaker Dr. Kendal Major cautioned Miller on his use of language "in describing honorable JPs".

"Mr. Speaker, they are honorable, but some of them do dishonorable things, like giving birth certificates to people they know or have no knowledge of being born in The Bahamas; like marrying people when they know it is only a marriage of convenience," Miller said.

"That is illegal and immoral." Miller said he was pleased to see that the Immigration Bill has "teeth" regarding people who are engaged in marriages of convenience. The bill proposes a $10,000 fine or a five year prison term, or both, in relation to fraudulent marriages.

Parliamentarians concluded debate on the bill last night and it was sent to committee. The bill was originally tabled in the House last month, but was withdrawn and an updated bill was tabled yesterday.

The new bill allows the minister to grant permanent residence, among other things. Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday boasted that the government's immigration policy has been its most popular.

"The policy has been the most popular policy of this government since it came to power in 2012.

The public opinion measures on this are in the stratosphere," Mitchell said. Citing a survey conducted by Public Domain last November, Mitchell said 85 percent of the public supports the government's policy.

"I use this as a measure: the Progressive Liberal Party was at its most popular in 1968 and still 40 percent of the population voted with the UBP," he said.

"So this policy obtained the support of the three political parties in the country. That is something not even the amendments for the rights of women was able to accomplish.

"This therefore is a highly popular policy but also highly charged." The bill would provide for the introduction of a resident belonger's permit to cover foreigners who are constitutionally entitled to apply for Bahamian citizenship on their 18th birthday.

Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Hubert Chipman expressed the opposition's support of the bill, but said it was far from perfect.

Chipman said the government should place a detention center in Inagua, which he said would alleviate financial constraints regarding repatriation exercises.

He added that the government must modernize the Department of Immigration. "The major problem in this country, and I think the minister would own up to that, is the backlog of applications at the Department of Immigration," he said.

"When we speak to people who have filed documents, they file the day they turn 18, at that day or the following day, and in some cases they haven't heard anything in 10 years. "That can't be right.

The department could at least acknowledge receipt of application of the letter." During the wrap up, Mitchell promised to take the suggestions into consideration.

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