By WARREN GAMBLE
A Tongan teenager facing deportation seven years after his family were ordered out of the country for overstaying was last night in a police cell after winning a reprieve.
Viliami Mila, 19, was to be deported last night but Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel stepped in after concerns about sending him home while his parents were still in hiding in South Auckland.
The Mila family were served with removal orders in February 1993 but lodged an appeal that they lost two years later.
Police, acting for the Immigration Service, swooped on their Otara garage on Monday night and found Viliami and his 26-year-old sister, Sima, who arrived in New Zealand last year. Their parents and a 12-year-old sister remain in hiding.
Lianne Dalziel said she would review the Mila file today. Lawyer Colin Amery sought a 48-hour reprieve last night on humanitarian grounds.
Viliami and Sima were being kept in police cells while their fate was decided, but Mr Amery said Sima had no case against deportation.
Lianne Dalziel said: "I want to be able to assess the situation with respect to the parents who are in hiding. [Viliami] is a secondary school student, which I'm taking into account."
Family friends say Viliami had made good strides in school and towards a career in photography, and should be given another chance for an offence he had no control over as a 12-year-old.
Friend Nickola Murray said Viliami had made Hillary College's first teams in rugby and league, and was a talented rap artist. He had completed a photographic course at the Manukau Institute of Technology and had enrolled to do another.
"It's understandable if he had no future and no hope, okay send him back," said Nickola Murray. "But he has a future, a bright one. He's got qualities very hard to find in young people these days."
Hillary principal Robin Staples said Viliami was a buoyant personality who was active in music and sports.
Teen wins reprieve from threat of old family deportation order
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