The pandemic has amplified cracks in the immigration system, but may have also created the “perfect opportunity” to reset the economy, a workers’ rights advocate says.
Migrant Workers Association president Anu Kaloti is calling for changes to the immigration system to end migrant exploitation.
Kaloti’s organisation has backed an open letter penned by Greens MP Ricardo Menéndez March and Teanau Tuiono, seeking changes to the “broken” immigration system.
Priorities include a pathway to residency for migrant workers already in New Zealand, for both critical and “low skilled” workers, and amnesty for overstayers.
“By granting residency to people who overstay their visa, a broad amnesty programme will uphold their mana, will recognise their contribution to Aotearoa and will ensure people aren’t left vulnerable to exploitation,” the letter says.
Tuiono said many of the 14,000 or so overstayers, the majority of whom were from Pacific Islands, were critical workers and had contributed to the economy throughout Covid-19.
“The dawn raids are a shameful stain on New Zealand history, defined by racial tension and unrest as police and immigration authorities victimised Pacific Islanders they suspected of abusing the terms of their visas.”
– Teanau Tuiono, Green Party
He said an apology for the dawn raids, which targeted targeted Pacific immigrants, was only meaningful if people were willing to learn about the history and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
“There is always those concerns of history repeating itself. We do have some similarities to what happened then and what the situation is now but our opportunity now is to do it better,” Tuiono said.
“The dawn raids are a shameful stain on New Zealand history, defined by racial tension and unrest as police and immigration authorities victimised Pacific Islanders they suspected of abusing the terms of their visas.”
“We don’t equate a human being’s worth in dollars and migrant communities need equity. We granted visas to the Wiggles, America’s Cup and movie crews, the message the Government’s giving people is that money talks.”
– Anu Kaloti, Migrant Workers Association
He said those similarities between now and policies that led to the 1970s dawn raids were in the way migrants were used as “economic units” rather than human beings with families.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi had earlier been accused of putting a “band-aid” on an issue impacting thousands of migrants by prioritising the families of high-skilled, high income contractor and employees to apply first.
Kaloti said prioritising immigrants on higher salaries was “unacceptable and wrong”.
“We don’t equate a human being’s worth in dollars and migrant communities need equity. We granted visas to the Wiggles, America’s Cup and movie crews, the message the Government’s giving people is that money talks.
“That does not align with the kind, compassionate message we’re trying to tell the world.”
Menéndez March said the open letter published this week was the fourth time he had addressed Faafoi on changing immigration policies.
I know this very well as someone who came as a migrant. I had to drop out of university because the fees were extremely high and the stress that you get from not knowing whether you’re going to be able to stay takes a toll on your physical and mental health and I would not wish that stress on anyone.”
– Ricardo Menéndez March, Green Party
“The Government’s unwillingness to create pathways to residency for migrants here or grant amnesty to overstayers so far is an antithesis of the words of kindness and compassion but also of embracing the diverse communities that live in Aotearoa,” Menéndez March said.
“The real danger here is that ultimately we’ll be creating inequities because we have thousands of people who are in precarious situations by the nature of their temporary status who have lost financial security and have been separated from their families.
“We’ve heard the stories of trauma but we’ve been missing policy solutions to the issues we’ve been hearing from our communities.”
Menéndez March talked about his own experience arriving here as a student.
“Ultimately it’s about recognising our migrant communities are the backbone of our society, they kept us going through some of the hardest times we faced in a generation and it would be a disservice to migrant workers to continue leaving them in situations where they’re continuing to face migrant exploitation.
“And I know this very well as someone who came as a migrant. I had to drop out of university because the fees were extremely high and the stress that you get from not knowing whether you’re going to be able to stay takes a toll on your physical and mental health and I would not wish that stress on anyone.”
Another priority on the list was decoupling work visas from single employers.
Kaloti said doing so would also alleviate the burden on the Labour Inspectorate and Immigration New Zealand currently overwhelmed by migrant exploitation complaints.
“We have good employment law but we don’t have enough people to enforce it,” Kaloti said.
“If the visas were to be untied, the exploitation will almost disappear quite quickly. Once people themselves are in a more secure position they are likely to challenge those employers, decreasing MBIE’s workload,” she said.
Kaloti said she felt “somewhat confident” the call for changes to policies would head in the “right direction”.
“We have one of the most diverse parliaments in the world and having so many migrant and refugee MPs also should count for something. If these MPs can’t feel the pain and push this for migrants, I don’t think we’ll ever achieve anything.”
The open letter also called to review partnership visas to ensure they were culturally competent, devolve resources to hapū, iwi and whānau to link between migrants and local communities and require Immigration NZ to stop visa processing delays. This had also hurt businesses.
Earlier this month the international education sector pleaded to Immigration NZ to resume visa processing, as private tertiary educators were losing international students to other countries.
Minister Kris Faafoi has been approached for comment.
