Dawn raids on overstayers still happening, despite Government apology to Pasifika

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio talks about his family's experience of the dawn raids.

Two days after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the Government will apologise to the Pasifika community for the racially charged dawn raids of the 1970s, Stuff can reveal the tactic of early morning raids is still being used.

The method, dubbed “traumatic and inhumane” by critics, remains in use by Immigration New Zealand to round up overstayers, most of whom are Pasifika.

Immigration NZ confirmed to Stuff that between May 2020 and May 2021, a total of 223 raids were conducted at private addresses – 19 of which were between the hours of 6am and 7am.

Immigration NZ was not immediately able to provide a breakdown by ethnicity of those 223 raids, but said later that the early raids led to deportation of 36 people – most of whom were Chinese nationals, none Pasifika.

Anu Kaloti of Migrant Workers Association says dawn raids are a traumatic, cruel and inhumane practice.

Immigration NZ general manager of verification and compliance Geoff Scott said standard compliance operations at private addresses were usually carried out between 7am and 9pm.

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Once a Panther is a Stuff podcast about the Polynesian Panther Party, a group of young New Zealand-born Pacific Islanders who stood up to institutionalised racism and helped change the course of history in Aotearoa.

The visits outside these hours, from 6am to 7am, are approved on a case-by-case basis because of the likelihood of people of interest being away during standard hours.

Scott said the last count, conducted in 2017, had overstayers at approximately 14,000 people.

Most were between the ages of 24 and 65 years and 60 per cent of them were previously on a visitor visa.

“Although, a significant number of overstayers from Asia – about 31 per cent – last held a student visa,” Scott said.

“Pacific nationals [Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Tuvalu and Kiribati] make up around a third of the total estimate.”

The five countries with the highest estimated numbers are Tonga (2500), Samoa (1550), China (1530), India (1310) and Malaysia (790).

Migrant Workers Rights Association (MWRA) president Anu Kaloti said dawn raids created deep-rooted trauma and fear in overstayers and those around them.

“It is traumatic, cruel and inhumane,” Kaloti said.

Scott said their visits were not raids and did not involve officers banging down doors.

“They involve immigration officers attending properties, knocking on the door, engaging with the occupants and, where appropriate, detaining people who are in the country unlawfully.

“If no-one is present, the officers leave and return at a later date.”

He said the “visits” before 7am were only done when they had a strong indication that people of interest were unlikely to be around during standard operating hours.

Ardern announced on Monday that the Government would apologise for the unfair and racist targeting of Pacific overstayers in the 1970s.

The infamous immigration policy saw police racially target suspected overstayers from the Pacific – often ending in prosecution and deportation – but not those from Britain or America.

At that time, the policy ended when anti-racism groups including the Polynesian Panthers used guerrilla tactics to highlight the practice. This revolutionary movement is the subject of Stuff’s latest podcast funded by NZ on Air, Once a Panther.

At the press conference announcing the upcoming apology, Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio spoke about his personal experience of the dawn raids, including how it traumatised his father and his family.

Kaloti said the dawn raids of the 1970s caused a lot of suffering and pain and trauma to the Pacific community.

“It could happen at any time and while today’s raids are not as severe as what our Pacific families faced, the format is still the same.

“It is quite common when a deportation order against a person is issued, for whatever reason, they have the authority to go and raid that person’s workplace or home, detain them and put them on a plane back to their home country.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said immigration laws still need to be upheld, and that the current enforcement did not resemble anything like the 1970s dawn raids.

“It is not police banging down doors, terrorising people in their houses, taking them away in their pyjamas and putting them in jail cells. It is vastly, vastly different,” Ardern said.

Polynesian Panthers Party co-founder Will 'Ilolahia called the Government’s dawn raid apology hollow and called for change in immigration laws.

He felt a clear pathway for overstayers to remain legally in New Zealand was more appropriate and fitting, after the racism Pasifika faced at the hands of a Labour government.

“We are asking for compensation but not in money. We want them to give pathways to residency for overstayers, those already here working and contributing to New Zealand’s economy.”

He said it would cost more money to track down overstayers when the Government could just allow them legal documents to remain in New Zealand.

Kaloti said it was a move MWRA had been pushing too – including amnesty and visa extensions.

“The need remains, it is what we have been saying, the Polynesian Panthers and other Pacific leaders – the apology is a good start and it is appreciated but it needs to be backed with action.”

The first five episodes of Once a Panther launch on Friday and can be found on Stuff or through podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or via an RSS feed.