for failing to give citizenship to long-term residents.

Trevor Moniz MP, who represents Smith's South, last night told The Royal Gazette he was "ashamed'' of the UBP for failing to naturalize residents who have lived on the Island for 20 years or more.

His comments came one week after the Portuguese Bermudian Association launched a letter-writing campaign to Government Ministers.

The group arranged for more than 300 people to write the letters during a special campaign event at St. Theresa's Cathedral in Hamilton last Sunday.

They are calling for more rights for long-term residents -- and they want those who have lived on the Island for more than 20 years to be made Bermudian.

Mr. Moniz last night pledged his support to their campaign.

And he said Government promised long-term residents full citizenship ahead of the Independence referendum of 1995.

He added: "Government has been looking at this issue for the past five years.

"I have always supported moves to grant an amnesty for people who have been here over a certain number of years and the House of Assembly has already discussed a time-span of 20 years.

"We should honour our commitment to long-term residents by granting them Bermudian status and I'm absolutely ashamed that we have failed to do that in the past two years.'' Government is also considering a "green card'' system similar to immigration procedures in the US.

But Mr. Moniz dismissed the idea, claiming it was just a "half-baked'' way to achieve status.

He added: "In the US, the green card ultimately leads to citizenship so why should we consider something thinly veiled like that? "It would be a misnomer to give long-term residents a green card, which is simply a right to live and work in Bermuda.

"I don't think that's the way to go because it creates confusion and not real citizenship. It's only half-baked.

"Instead, we should be taking the issue extremely seriously and granting full citizenship to long-term residents.'' Statistics in the Green Paper showed there were 2,034 foreign born 20-year residents on the Island.