Dawn raids (New Zealand)
Prime Minister Helen Clark condemned the raids as "shameful" in 2002 while giving a formal apology to Samoa for New Zealand's colonial administration.
[10][7] In early August 2021, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern formally apologised for the dawn raids on behalf of the New Zealand Government.
Since the 1950s, the New Zealand government had encouraged substantial emigration from several Pacific countries including Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji to fill a labour shortage caused by the post-war economic boom.
This economic downturn led to increased crime, unemployment and other social ailments, which disproportionately affected the Pacific Islander community.
From approximately 12 March 1974 the New Zealand Police conducted night and dawn raids against overstayers which sparked criticism from human rights groups and sections of the press.
Police were reported to not have allowed some arrestees to dress properly, leading to some making court appearances in pyjamas and clothing loaned from cells.
[16] On 1 April 1974, the government introduced an amnesty which permitted overstayers who registered with the Department of Labour to remain for an additional two months and avoid immediate prosecution.
[16] Kirk's changes in policies were criticised by the mainstream press, which highlighted crimes and violence perpetrated by Māori and Pacific Islanders.
During the 1975 general election, the National Party also played a controversial electoral advertisement that was later criticised for stoking negative racial sentiments about Polynesian migrants.
The report found that policing of the act was primarily reliant on tip offs by members of the public with the vast majority of informants being Pacific Islanders.
Muldoon described renewed raids as the "next logical step after the amnesty" and Cabinet subsequently instructed police to assume full responsibilities for overstayers.
The Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE) staged protests and succeeded in convincing the British crew of a cruise ship that was supposed to deport Tongan overstayers to refuse to sail with the deportees.
[16] The Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination (ACORD) and Amnesty Aroha published leaflets highlighting unfair treatment from the police and courts.
[20] The raids were also criticised by elements of the police and the ruling National Party for damaging race relations with the Pacific Island community.
By 1979, the Muldoon government terminated the dawn raids since the deportation of Pacific over-stayers had failed to alleviate the ailing New Zealand economy.
In addition, the Government introduced a Pacific Access category which set quotas for people from Tonga, Fiji, Tuvalu and Kiribati to be granted residency in New Zealand.
[25][6] The opposition National Party leader Judith Collins also supported the Government's official apology for the dawn raids, stating that "this historic act of discrimination against our Pasifika communities caused anguish that reverberated across decades and it is right that we acknowledge this".
[31] University of Auckland senior research fellow Melanie Anae described the apology as insufficient gestures and said that the Government had to go further before they could expect "real change.
[35] The dawn raids were also depicted in Halaifonua Finau and Tom Hern's TVNZ miniseries The Panthers and in an episode of the TV series Westside.
In early May 2023, former Polynesian Panther Tigilau Ness, lawyer Soane Foliaki, Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni, and Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, ACT Party leader David Seymour criticised the immigration department for conducting a dawn raid against a Pasifika overstayer in late April 2023.
At the time, Delamere was representing a Chinese overstayer known as "Chen" who claimed that he had been manhandled by immigration compliance officers during his arrest, resulting in a broken left wrist.
[44] Similarly, Acting Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni expressed "deep disappointment" that Immigration NZ had continued with the "dawn raids" despite the 2021 apology.
