Independent report recommends law change to Dawn Raids

An independent review into Dawn Raids has recommended the Government change the Immigration Act .

Out of hours immigration visits, infamously known as dawn raids, will continue to be halted on release of the review’s findings.

Headed by Mike Heron KC, the review looked at whether current immigration settings, standard operating procedures and any other internal guidance for out-of-hours immigration visits to serve deportation liability notices or execute deportation orders were appropriate.

It has made five recommendations, including for the law to be changed.

READ MORE:
* Pasifika were raided in the lead up to the historic Dawn Raids apology
* ‘Dawn raids’ on pause as Government reviews out-of-hours immigration visits
* South Auckland dawn raid criticised by Pacific community leader

“The Government should consider amending the Immigration Act 2009 to specify the criteria for out of hours compliance visits and whether those involving residential addresses be stopped entirely, or limited to specific situations,” the review said.

The report said Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines for compliance officers should be updated to reinforce that out of hours compliance visits are a matter of last resort and reasonable alternatives should have been considered beforehand.

The review argued that SOPs should also be updated to reflect policy about when and how these kinds of visits should occur and given the lack of legislative time available this could be given priority

“Any assessment of out of hours visits should consider the impact on anyone else who may be present, in particular children, but also the elderly or other vulnerable individuals, as well as New Zealand citizens or residents.”

“The way in which the operation is carried out should take into account relevant cultural factors.”

“Any decision to undertake an out of hours compliance visit should also include an assessment of reasonableness, proportionality and public interest,” the recommendations concluded.

“Any out of hours compliance activity should be authorised by the relevant compliance manager and the national manager before it can occur, although it is acknowledged there are arguments for elevating authorisation further.”

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment chief executive Carolyn Tremain said while legislation change was a matter for the Government, dawn raids would only take place as a last resort

“I do want to again acknowledge the impact the Dawn Raids of the 1970s had on the Pacific community and that the trauma from those remains today,”

“We accept that we should have reflected the Government’s apology in our guidance sooner and are prioritising putting this right.”

The new guidance from the review will specify when and how out of hours visits to residential addresses should take place and make it clearer that they should only be carried out as a last resort when all other alternatives have been considered, Tremain said.

“We are working on this as a matter of priority, but we will continue our pause on out of hours compliance visits to residential addresses until the guidance is updated. This means visits will only take place between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday.”

Information provided under the Official Information Act shows despite a government apology for doing immigration compliance work before 7am or after 9pm, officials continued to do it, before being paused in May while the review took place.

This comes following news a man had been ‘dawn raided’ at home in south Auckland in April.

Immigration Minister Andrew Little said it should be “an absolute last resort”.

“As I read this report… I’m not satisfied that the enforcement action taken on this occasion could be described… as an absolute last resort.”

Asked if he would recommend an outright ban, Little said “there will be cases, I expect that will be very rare, where every effort is made that it has just not been possible to contact the person who is the subject of an investigation”.

“And I wouldn’t want to remove the ability for Immigration officers to take action out of hours when it is an absolute last resort and appropriate to do so and conducted in a reasonable and proportionate way.”

Little, who took over the immigration portfolio recently, said he could not explain why different or updated guidance was not given to Immigration NZ after the Dawn Raids apology.

“I am sorry. I am regretful. And we need to make sure that when we are signalling a change in approach that we give meaningful guidance to do that.”