Erica Stanford. Photo:
The Immigration Minister has slammed critics of tougher deportation laws, claiming the proposed changes are a response to convicted Mama Hooch serial rapists the Jaz brothers.
Danny and Roberto Jaz were convicted in 2023 of drugging and violating more than 20 women at the bar Mama Hooch and neighbouring restaurant Venuti between 2015 and 2018.
On Thursday, Minister Erica Stanford announced planned law changes that will make it so criminals can be deported if they have been permanent residents for up to 20 years, up from the current 10 years.
But immigration law specialist Alistair McClymont told Morning Report the changes announced on Thursday were less about criminals, and more about deporting people for immigration infringements.
Danny and Roberto Jaz were convicted in 2023 of drugging and violating more than 20 women at Mama Hooch. Photo: NZ Herald / George Heard
Stanford said she "totally reject(s) that".
"The reason this change came around was because of the Jaz brothers.
"They've been here for more than 10 years but have committed heinous crimes and I think any reasonable New Zealander would expect that if you don't abide by the laws of this country, that it is time to leave.
"Now I know there are some commentators saying it's a 'Trojan horse' or something else - they could not be further from the truth."
She said the country had "the softest touch" and the changes would bring New Zealand in line with comparable countries.
Stanford said while citizenship couldn't be rescinded under normal circumstances she said there many people who held dual residency.
"When you hold residency we are perfectly within our right to remove that if you have committed a crime within a certain time of being in New Zealand.
"We are extending that time out and saying it is a privilege to live in this country and you must abide by our laws."
McClymont said the changes weren't a crackdown on criminals and the "devil was in the detail".
The announcement has coincided with a debate in Australia about deporting a New Zealand-born leader of a white supremacist group who has Australian citizenship and comes alongside statistics released on Thursday estimating there are 20,980 visa overstayers in New Zealand.
"The Minister would like us to believe that this is all about making it easier to deport criminals - and that's exactly the way the media has reported it," he said.
"But really that's bit of a Trojan horse because Immigration New Zealand already have these powers.
"This idea that you can deport someone for a criminal offence who's been here less than 20 years is disingenuous because most people who become residents become citizens after five years.
"So the devil is really in the detail.
"It's not really about deporting criminals, it's about deporting people who have committed other minor immigration infringements and who are being blamed and punished and then deported for it."
Noting the current debate in Australia, McClymont said it wasn't possible to deport a citizen or someone with dual citizenship in New Zealand.
He said the language around expanding the definition of when a visa was granted in error was confusing - and was concerned that people with jobs, family, and community in New Zealand could be deported.
The proposed law changes were introducing legislation "by stealth" that would have the ability to deport people for "simple immigration administrative mistakes, for example," he said.
McClymont dismissed the number of overstayers as negligible and said while increased penalties for migrant exploitation were a good move, he wanted to see more scrutiny of immigration policy.
"Where is the examination of how the immigration policy enables the exploitation in the first place - how agents and employers can sell vast numbers of job tokens offshore to con vulnerable migrants into paying for these jobs - where is that?"
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