The move to seek reinterpretation of the Basic Law will lead to a flood of litigation and further controversy rather than solving the problem, a legal expert warned yesterday.
The Legal Aid Department said it was being flooded with inquiries from migrants about their rights. And a campaigner for migrants' rights, Ho Hei-wah, said he was thinking of challenging the move.
Andrew Byrnes, associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said migrants given the right of abode by the Court of Final Appeal ruling in January could consider seeking a court declaration of their rights.
They could also seek a judicial review of the Chief Executive's decision to seek a reinterpretation.
Alternatively, migrants could challenge their deportation, claiming the reinterpretation was inconsistent with the Basic Law as interpreted by the Court of Final Appeal.
'There is a real prospect of extended and complex litigation which will recreate exactly the type of 'crisis' the Government believes it is solving,' Professor Byrnes said.