A defiant Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) national chair, John Minto, has appealed to Aotearoa New Zealand to stand with the “majority of humanity” in the world and condemn genocide in Gaza.

Minto has called on Foreign Minister Winston Peters to “ignore the bullying” from pro-Israel Texas Senator Ted Cruz and have the courage to stop welcoming Israeli solders to New Zealand.

Peters has claimed Israeli media stories that New Zealand has stopped Israeli military visiting New Zealand are “fake news”.

• READ MORE: ‘Fake news’: Peters hits back at US senator
• UN rapporteur welcomes ‘best news’ — Hague Group coalition pushing for Palestinian state
• Moral bankruptcy, Israel’s genocide and the betrayal of the Palestinians
• Australia denies Israel soldiers entry, asks about potential role in war crimes
• Other Palestine reports

This @haaretzcom story is fake news, Senator @TedCruz. We are demanding it be corrected.

Israelis do not need visitor visas to travel to New Zealand, let alone have to declare their military service.

And both New Zealand’s Chief Human Rights Commissioner and I – as Foreign… https://t.co/mhrx9pwHyw

— Winston Peters (@NewZealandMFA) February 1, 2025

Senator Cruz had quoted Israeli daily Ha’aretz in a tweet which said “It’s difficult to treat New Zealand as a normal ally within the American alliance system, when they denigrate and punish Israeli citizens for defending themselves”.

The Times of Israel had also reported this week that Israelis entering New Zealand were required to detail their military service.

Minto responded in a statement saying that Peters “should not buckle” to a Trump-supporting senator who fully backed Israel’s genocide.

“Ted Cruz believes Israel should continue defending land it has stolen from Palestinians. He supports every Israeli war crime. New Zealand must be different,” he said.

Last September, New Zealand voted against the US at the United Nations General Assembly where the country sided with the majority of humanity — 124 votes in favour, 14 against and 43 abstentions — that ruled that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was illegal and it should leave within a year.

At the time, Peters declared: “New Zealand’s yes vote is fundamentally a signal of our strong support for international law and the need for a two-state solution.”

‘Different policy position’
“The New Zealand government has a completely different policy position to the US,” said Minto.

“That should be reflected in the actions of the New Zealand government.  We must have an immigration ban on Israeli soldiers who have served in the Israeli military since October 2023 as well as a ban on any Israeli who lives in an illegal Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian land.”

Minto said it was not clear what the current immigration rules were for different entry categories, but it did seem that some longer stay Israeli applicants were required to declare they had not committed human rights violations before they were allowed in.

“That’s what the Australians are doing.  It appears ineffective at preventing Israeli troops having ‘genocide holidays’ in Australia – but it’s a start,” he said.

“We’d like to see a broader, effective, and watertight ban on Israeli troops coming here.

“Instead of bowing to US pressure New Zealand should be joining The Hague Group of countries, as proposed by the Palestine Forum of New Zealand, to take decisive action to prevent and punish Israeli war crimes.”

Immigration New Zealand reports that since 7 October 2023 it had approved 809 of 944 applications received from Israeli nationals across both temporary and residence visa applications.

Last December, Middle East Eye reported that at least two IDF soldiers had been denied entry to Australia and applicants were being required to fill out a document regarding their role in war crimes.

A Hamilton couple convicted of exploiting Pacific migrants have had their convictions quashed after the New Zealand’s Court of Appeal ruled there had been a miscarriage of justice.

Anthony Swarbrick and Christina Kewa-Swarbrick were found guilty on nine representative charges of aiding and abetting, completion of a visa application known to be false or misleading and provision of false or misleading information, at a trial in the Hamilton District Court in February 2023.

A month later, Kewa-Swarbrick, who originally came from Papua New Guinea, was sentenced to 10 months home detention. She completed nine months of that sentence.

• READ MORE: PNG workers connected with Destiny Church worked for free on Te Mata winery – ERA

Swarbrick served his full eight months of home detention.

In February this year the Court of Appeal found that in Swarbrick’s case, the trial judge’s summing up of the case was “not fair and balanced” leading to a “miscarriage of justice”.

It found the trial judge “undermined the defence” and “the summing up took a key issue away from the jury.”

“Viewed overall, the Judge forcefully suggested what the jury would, and impliedly should, find by way of the elements of the offence. The Judge made the ultimate assessment that was for the jury to make. The trial was unfair to Mr Swarbrick for that reason. We conclude that this resulted in a miscarriage of justice,” the decision states.

It ordered Swarbrick’s convictions be quashed and a retrial.

Charges withdrawn
It came to the same conclusions for Kewa-Swarbrick in April, but the retrial was abandoned after the Crown withdrew the charges in May, leading to the Hamilton District Court ordering the charges against the couple be dismissed.

Immigration NZ said it withdrew the charges after deciding it was no longer in the public interest to hold a re-trial.

The couple, who have since separated, are now investigating redress options from the government for the miscarriage of justice.

“We lost everything. Our marriage, our house. I lost a huge paying job offshore that I couldn’t go back to because we were on bail,” Swarbrick told RNZ.

“It’s had a huge effect, emotionally, financially. We had to take our children out of private school.”

Swarbrick had since been unable to return to his job and now had health issues as a result of the legal battles.

Kewa-Swarbrick said the court case had “destroyed” her life.

“It’s affected my home, my marriage, my children.”

Not able to return to PNG
She had not been able to return to Papua New Guinea since the case because she had received death threats.

“My health has deteriorated.”

The couple estimated they had spent at least $90,000 on legal fees, but their reputation had been severely affected by the case and media reports, preventing them from getting new jobs.

The couple’s ventures came to the attention of Immigration NZ in 2016 and charges were laid in 2018. The trial was delayed until 2023 because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Immigration NZ alleged the couple had arranged for groups of seasonal workers from Papua New Guinea to work illegally in New Zealand for very low wages between 2013 and 2016.

The trial heard the workers were led to believe they would be travelling to New Zealand to work under the RSE scheme in full time employment, receiving an hourly rate of $15 per hour, but ended up being paid well below the minimum wage.

However, Kewa-Swarbrick and Swarbrick argued they always intended to bring the PNG nationals to New Zealand for a cultural exchange and work experience.

“They fundraised $1000 each for living costs. We funded everything else. And when they got here they just completely shut us down,” said Kewa-Swarbrick.

She said it was “a relief” to finally be exonerated.

“The compensation part is going to be the last part because it will help us rebuild our lives.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The use of “dawn raid” tactics have trampled on Immigration NZ’s “very special relationship” with the Pacific communities, says Māngere MP Aupito William Sio.

The Minister of Immigration, six Pacific MPs and the head of Immigration NZ will meet in South Auckland tomorrow, following the revelation “dawn raid” tactics are still being used in Aotearoa.

“I was appalled, really appalling, I would describe it as Ua soli le mā, (a Samoan saying that roughly translates to ‘you’re trampling on the shame’).

• READ MORE: Other Dawn Raids era reports

“Meaning the way Immigration are conducting the use of their powers of deportation have trampled on a very special relationship with our Pacific communities of Aotearoa,” said Aupito, the former Minister for Pacific Peoples.

Senior Pacific lawyer Soane Foliaki broke the news, sharing a story of his client who was taken into custody after police knocked on his door in the early hours of the morning, frightening his children.

Aupito believes it is his responsibility to hold Immigration to account with recent events demonstrating there is a complete “lack of cultural intelligence” within the ministry.

“And I think Immigration needs to address that immediately,” he said.

In a statement, an Immigration New Zealand spokesperson said it had launched a review into “out of hours compliance visits” and pressed pause on all such operations until the review had been completed.

Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua is not letting this moment slip by either.

In February this year Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told RNZ Pacific he would look at an overstayer petition that was launched by Pacific community leaders almost three years ago.

To be clear, this was a petition, not just for Pasifika, but for all overstayers in Aotearoa, Pakilau said.

When Hipkins was questioned on whether he would make changes to the government’s policy, he said: “I haven’t had an opportunity to look at that issue yet but I absolutely intend to look at it.”

Three months have passed and no changes have been made.

Pakilau has been fighting for change for years. The people he has been fighting for have legitimate reasons to stay and deserve compassion, he says.

“They might have been here during the lockdowns and they couldn’t go back. Or they were here on a temporary visa and it was difficult to go back due to the eruption,” Pakilau told RNZ Pacific in February.

For him the issue is personal — his uncle Teni is a Dawn Raids survivor.

“Teni was here with us in Auckland during the Dawn Raids of the 1970s as part of a migrant work scheme that brought him and countless thousands here to NZ to do work nobody here wanted to do,” he said.

He remembers his uncle calling from Mount Eden prison to say goodbye as he was deported back to Tonga.

Apology ‘still stands’
Jacinda Ardern humbled herself and apologised for the actions of the government in the 1970s.

For many, finding out similar tactics are still being used is painful and even retraumatising.

Aupito said the stakes were very high, the legacy of a very important apology which in his view “still stands” has been “trampled on” by Immigration New Zealand.

He wants Immigration to take a good hard look at its operations.

“I’m gutted, I’m just gutted that the the Ministry of Immigration does not seem to have understood at all the principles that the Ministry of MFAT are using as guiding principles for engagement; manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, arohatanga,” Aupito said.

He has spoken with the Minister of Immigration, the new Pacific Peoples Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister who he says all feel the same way.

While Aupito has not spoken with Ardern this week, he has confidence in Michael Wood.

“I have faith that Minister Wood is someone from South Auckland and he understands what is at stake here and he will pursue that,” he said.

Time to front up
Wood and immigration officials will front up tomorrow at a community meeting.

Overstayers are called to turn up and be heard, not to hide in the shadows afraid.

“This is our time, people. Come and have your voices heard in our own backyard of Auckland,” Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua said.

“Don’t worry if you are worried about being an overstayer they need to hear you. Don’t leave it too late. We are here. We stand with you.”

Aupito has a message for the family that lawyer Foliaki acts on behalf of.

“I just apologise to the family for the behaviour of Immigration,” he said.

• The meeting is at 10am, May 6, at 25 Princes Street, Otahuhu.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The New Zealand government is investigating the case of a Pasifika overstayer who was detained after a dawn raid in South Auckland last week.

The man’s lawyer, Soane Foliaki, said police showed up at 5am, scaring his children and taking him into custody — and though Immigration NZ has disputed the timing, it has admitted the early morning raid was not a one-off.

Two years ago the government apologised for the infamous Dawn Raids of the 1970s, and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he did not expect them to be happening any more.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘They were terrified … and crying and very, very upset and scared” – Lawyer Soane Foliaki

“That does concern me. Those aren’t the sorts of tactics that I would expect us to be using in New Zealand.”

Hipkins said he had assurances no ministers were aware of what was going to happen, and Associate Immigration Minister Rachel Brooking is reviewing the man’s case.

In a statement, Immigration said it was rare for officers to show up early in the morning, and in this case the decision was approved by the national manager of compliance.

It said of the 623 “customers” it “interacted with” between last July and the end of April, just 3 percent — about 18 or 19 — were contacted “outside of hours”. The “vast majority” of visits were carried out between 7am and 9pm.

Historic apology
Foliaki was there when then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered the historic apology, and said Pasifika would be disgusted to find out the tactics were still being used.

He said the family were still asleep, the children — staying downstairs in the two-storey rental — the first to hear people banging on the door, and covering potential “escape routes” their dad might take.

“They were terrified … and crying and very, very upset and scared,” he told RNZ Morning Report on Tuesday.

“And the parents heard it from upstairs – it was that loud — and they looked out the window from upstairs and saw that it was police. So they ran downstairs to try and calm the children.”

Their father was taken to the Manukau Police Station.

Immigration NZ told RNZ officers had showed up at 6am, not 5am. Early morning visits are paid when Immigration does not believe the person will be home during the day.

“Look, I don’t believe that at all,” Foliaki said. “My instructions from my client was quite clear – it was at 5am. The chap, he works as a construction worker and he said, you know, if it was at 6am he would have left the house by then already…

‘Cover of darkness’
“Early in the morning is one thing – coming in the cover of darkness is another thing.”

Foliaki said at this time of year, 6am would still be “coming in the cover of darkness”.

“This raid was no different from any other raid in the ’70s.”

Manase Lua who remembers as a child the Dawn Raids on his community said the revelations were “absolutely appalling”.

“We need to put a stop to it … it’s impacting children, children are being terrified at police raiding them at dawn.

“We thought those days were over but obviously it’s not.”

When he heard former prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s apology two years ago he was expecting a substantial announcement such as a pathway to residency for overstayers but instead all they got was the setting up of some scholarships.

‘Great opportunity’
“What a great opportunity to do that during a pandemic yet there was no announcement to help people who were already here needing pathways to residency… Some of them are working and contributing to the tax base so that’s what we were looking for. It was a lost opportunity.”

He said the Tongan man who was arrested was not a criminal and all he had done was not fill out a form to extend his visa.

The irony was that Tongans were singled out in the 1970s and they appeared to be the current targets as well.

Hipkins was flying out of the country today to attend King Charles’ coronation in the UK. In his place Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni, herself the daughter of a Samoan migrant, told Morning Report she was “deeply concerned” by the lawyer’s claims.

“Dawn Raids were of course a very traumatic experience for our Pasifika communities, and we don’t want our Pasifika communities to have to relive that. So, we do need to ask questions here, and I have confidence in the minister for immigration asking the right questions with regards to what’s going on.”

Immigration’s admission it has carried out about 18 or 19 out-of-hours visits did not render the government’s historic 2021 apology hollow, Sepuloni insisted.

“But what we need to make sure of is that we are not retraumatising the Pacific community by this type of activity, and so we’re asking the right questions and we will be following this closely.”

‘Humbling’ apology
Foliaki said at the time, he thought Ardern’s apology was “very, very genuine” and “humbling”.

The 1970s Dawn Raids overwhelmingly targeted Pasifika — while they made up only a third of overstayers, they accounted for 86 percent of all prosecutions. US and UK citizens made up another third of overstayers, but only 5 percent of prosecutions.

Foliaki said it was not clear if the modern-day dawn raids are racially motivated, but would like to get figures via the Official Information Act.

“Of the 18 raids, if they happened in the dark, how many of them were European and how many of them were Pacific? We don’t know . . .  If it comes out that there is more Europeans and [non-Pasifika] who are illegally in this country and we have a high figure and nothing at all of these rates happening with the Europeans, of course, we’re gonna say that it’s racist.”

He said his client was the family’s “breadwinner”, and has been “in a relationship for some years with a New Zealand citizen, and who is looking after children”, so has a pathway to residency.

“Ministers of immigration have [said] in the past, if they have a pathway forward, let them test their eligibility for residency by granting them a temporary visa . . .

“We have a convention for the rights of the children — we’re supposed to protect the family, protect the children, don’t harm them. You know, removing dads and breaking up family units like this is just absolutely, it’s against a convention for which we are a party.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.