Bermudian Organisation on behalf of threatened Portuguese workers who have spent a great deal of their working life in Bermuda. While we sympathise with the new group's efforts to assist the Portuguese, we hope that eventually Mr.

Amaral and the organisation will extend efforts to include all those people who feel abused by Bermuda's immigration laws. There are many individuals in the same or very similar positions to the Portuguese who do not have a cultural identity to hold them together or to give them a unified voice. While the Portuguese are in the news right now because Government has been lifting work permits, other people have also been treated harshly by Bermuda's immigration laws.

When Bermuda's protectionist rules were first implemented many of them made practical sense in attempting to protect Bermuda's jobs for Bermudians. The rules also made political sense in the face of noisy efforts by such nationalist and right wing groups as Bermuda for Bermudians. Things change and we now live in a more concerned and morally conscious world which is sympathetic to human rights abuses.

We think that in an understandable attempt to protect Bermudians the regulations went so far as to violate the rights of other people. The regulations certainly seem to have violated the rights of Bermudians who were married to non-Bermudians because they discriminated against the non-Bermudian spouse. The rules also created an unfair division because, over the years, the rules have treated the husbands and children of Bermudian women less kindly than they have treated the wives and children of Bermudian men. Women in many other countries would not have stood for that discrimination.

We know that people with work permits have an option to stay in Bermuda or to leave and go home. Many choose to stay for long periods, probably hoping that, in the end, they will get status. They make that choice freely and the choice impacts heavily on their children many of whom know only Bermuda as their home.

It is true to say that people who remain in Bermuda for many years on contract know the rules, know they probably cannot stay in the end, and yet choose to go on working in Bermuda because there are advantages to them. However, we think it is also true to say that it is immoral and without conscience for any country to use up the best years of people's lives and then cast them out. We do not think it is acceptable for Bermuda to hide behind the technicality of, "Well, they knew the rules and they chose to stay,'' in the face of a heavy moral responsibility to behave well and fairly towards people who have made virtually a lifetime contribution to Bermuda.

When making decisions about sending long-term residents back to their home, Bermuda has to remember that by the very definition of the immigration regulations, these non-Bermudians were invited here because they could and would perform jobs Bermudians could not or would not perform. These people came here because Bermuda needed them. True, they enjoyed what Bermuda had to offer, made a living and may well have been better off than at home, but they also contributed to create the good life Bermudians enjoy so much.