Thread: 115 illegal immigrants slipped through borders – Pete

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,320 ... 60,00.html

115 illegal immigrants slipped through borders – Peters
05 March 2005

More than 100 illegal immigrants are at large in New Zealand, New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters says.

In Parliament on Wednesday Mr Peters questioned how the Government had "allowed" 700 illegal immigrants to get into New Zealand despite having false passports or after destroying or losing travel documents.

Of that group 115 had slipped through the cracks, Mr Peters revealed yesterday.

In a written answer to Mr Peter's question, Immigration Minister Paul Swain said 303 of the 700 were granted refugee status, 58 still had an undecided claim with the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, 108 had left the country. A further 116 were still in New Zealand with an appeal or application pending or had been granted residence under different policies rather than on refugee status, or they had a temporary permit.

He confirmed the remainder were here illegally.

Mr Peters said this was disturbing.

"We do not know who they are, what threat they pose or even where they are located - this is simply not good enough," he said in a statement.

Mr Peters said the 115 were a tiny fraction of about 20,000 illegal immigrants in New Zealand.

"It is time the minister stopped hiding behind bureaucratic incompetence and actually went and found these people before they can inflict serious damage on our country and its people," he said.

Mr Swain said it was concerning people were living here illegally.

"Any people who are not here lawfully in New Zealand undermine the system and obviously then undermine those people who are legitimately trying to get to New Zealand legally."

It was important to note the figures were over three years, he said.

The 115 people were likely to have gone to ground after applications to stay failed and if they were not at the last known address it was hard to track them.

"We rely on tips and anonymous information to go after them and, of course, when they are caught up with they are removed and are on the plane and home."

The Government had introduced measures to tighten borders, such as advanced passenger processing (APP), where people were checked via computer before boarding a plane, he said.

There was increased funding for fraud detection, prosecution and intelligence analysis, and the Government had introduced tough provisions against people smugglers, he said.

"The numbers across the board of overstayers that are removed or voluntarily go home was hovering around 1500 a year over the last three or five years, for the last full financial year that had gone up to about 2500," Mr Swain said.

"We're getting more staff, more people removed and fewer coming here to make claims because of the APP system. The numbers are going down and the removals are going up but that doesn't get away from the underlying problem which all countries face - which is illegal immigrants."

However, he was confident progress was being made.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,320 ... 60,00.html

115 illegal immigrants slipped through borders – Peters
05 March 2005

More than 100 illegal immigrants are at large in New Zealand, New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters says.

In Parliament on Wednesday Mr Peters questioned how the Government had "allowed" 700 illegal immigrants to get into New Zealand despite having false passports or after destroying or losing travel documents.

Of that group 115 had slipped through the cracks, Mr Peters revealed yesterday.

In a written answer to Mr Peter's question, Immigration Minister Paul Swain said 303 of the 700 were granted refugee status, 58 still had an undecided claim with the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, 108 had left the country. A further 116 were still in New Zealand with an appeal or application pending or had been granted residence under different policies rather than on refugee status, or they had a temporary permit.

He confirmed the remainder were here illegally.

Mr Peters said this was disturbing.

"We do not know who they are, what threat they pose or even where they are located - this is simply not good enough," he said in a statement.

Mr Peters said the 115 were a tiny fraction of about 20,000 illegal immigrants in New Zealand.

"It is time the minister stopped hiding behind bureaucratic incompetence and actually went and found these people before they can inflict serious damage on our country and its people," he said.

Mr Swain said it was concerning people were living here illegally.

"Any people who are not here lawfully in New Zealand undermine the system and obviously then undermine those people who are legitimately trying to get to New Zealand legally."

It was important to note the figures were over three years, he said.

The 115 people were likely to have gone to ground after applications to stay failed and if they were not at the last known address it was hard to track them.

"We rely on tips and anonymous information to go after them and, of course, when they are caught up with they are removed and are on the plane and home."

The Government had introduced measures to tighten borders, such as advanced passenger processing (APP), where people were checked via computer before boarding a plane, he said.

There was increased funding for fraud detection, prosecution and intelligence analysis, and the Government had introduced tough provisions against people smugglers, he said.

"The numbers across the board of overstayers that are removed or voluntarily go home was hovering around 1500 a year over the last three or five years, for the last full financial year that had gone up to about 2500," Mr Swain said.

"We're getting more staff, more people removed and fewer coming here to make claims because of the APP system. The numbers are going down and the removals are going up but that doesn't get away from the underlying problem which all countries face - which is illegal immigrants."

However, he was confident progress was being made.