The lawyer of a Tongan man who experienced a traumatic dawn raid two weeks ago is questioning why immigration officials have continued to use such tactics despite the government’s apology only two years earlier.
PMN News reports Soane Foliaki, who’s a senior solicitor at Community Law South Auckland with over 30 years experience in helping immigration clients, says when he first heard what had happened he was shocked.
“I was at the apology and I was also a teenager at the time of the first dawn raids in the seventies,” he says.
“To see the Prime Minister do the apology with such humility by way of the ifoga - putting the mat over her head - it was really moving.
“So when this happened it’s hard to describe how I felt - to be honest I was quite disgusted.”
He says it’s clear that despite the government’s best intentions there are still many within Immigration New Zealand (INZ) who ignored the Prime Minister’s actions.
“They have disregarded an apology only two years ago because those people that exercise this, don't believe there's anything wrong with what they're doing regardless of the apology," he says.
“They think it is all right to invade a home in the middle of the night, whether or not there's children there or have any consideration towards a family to remove somebody who's an overstayer.”
In the 1970s the majority of overstayers were from Great Britain, South Africa and the United States, while 86 per cent of arrests were targeted at people from the Pacific.
According to INZ’s own data there were roughly 589 British nationals without a valid visa when estimates were last made in 2017, compared to 2,498 Tongans, 1549 Samoans, 1529 Chinese, 1310 Indians and 434 Fijians.
And in the last twelve months there have been 657 overstayers, who have either willingly left or had to be deported. Of that number, the majority were from India and China, with 128 and 106 respectively leaving New Zealand, while there were 55 from Samoa, 34 from Fiji, 34 from Tonga, and 13 from Britain who were also deported in this time.
But regardless of who’s being singled out for dawn raids, Foliaki just wants to see the practice ended.
“We're being told there have been 19 or 20 dawn raids since June last year and they were Asians, Indians and four Pacific Island families.
“But they just need to stop dawn raids, it's not necessary in any way or form. And it’s an excessive use of force for something that is not a criminal offense.”
Following the news of Foliaki’s client’s arrest, INZ announced it would carry out a review “into out of hours compliance visits”.
In a statement published on its website it said:
“The review, by Mike Heron KC, will consider existing policies and processes for such visits by immigration officers visits and is needed following concerns raised by the Pacific community.
"The review is expected to be completed by the end of June. In the meantime, until further notice, INZ will not be conducting any out of hours visits.
"We have worked very hard to ensure the compliance visits today are very different to the Dawn Raids of the 1970s. We engage respectfully with the occupants of premises and at all times our compliance officers are expected to act with professionalism and integrity.
"However, we acknowledge we have more work to do to consider the context of the Dawn Raids in compliance and deportation activities involving our Pacific people.”
For Foliaki’s client, life is starting to regain some normalcy as he has been granted a six-month work visa and has been set on a path to permanent residency.
“He’s back at work, and as he’s in the construction industry - he’s helping to build the city of Auckland like so many other Tongans,” says Foliaki.
"There’s been lots and lots of tears. Tears when he was first arrested and now happy tears when he got the good news."
And Foliaki says the fact the government responded so quickly to this particular situation shows change may be possible.
“I still have faith in government and I do believe that Michael Woods, the members of parliament and the person who was representing Immigration NZ, that were there [at a community fono], I believe that they were sincere in their words and their undertakings that this will stop.”
Soane Foliaki is the lawyer for a Tongan man arrested for overstaying. Photo / RNZ