Leaders at the time said the apology should be accompanied by an amnesty for overstayers, which the Government said it would consider.
Former Immigration Minister Michael Wood said in March the Government was “actively considering” an amnesty.
Nearly six months later, new Immigration Minister Andrew Little has confirmed it is still under “active consideration” but is not likely to get over the line before the October election and when Parliament wraps up at the end of this month.
Little said amnesties were a “very careful balancing exercise”. Thousands of migrants came to New Zealand each year and adhered to the rules.
But he accepted some, for a “range of reasons, often quite innocent”, found themselves outside of those rules.
“We have to make sure that the system [has] integrity.
“We are a small country, and the reality is that we cannot absorb everybody who would like to come here and stay here. So we have to have a set of rules, we have to manage it, and we have to make sure everybody adheres to those rules.”
He said particularly concerning were situations involving children of people who had “done nothing wrong” and lived their lives here.
“We don’t like the fact that there are some in this situation where they have the sword of Damocles hanging over them; there’s uncertainty about their immigration status, and we think very carefully about that.”
Little said there was also concern about sending a signal that if people overstayed they would be granted an amnesty at some point.
Green Party immigration spokesman Ricardo Menendez March said he did not accept the Government’s reasoning for the delay.
“We know big changes can happen in a short time in immigration, so this is a political choice.”
March said working out an amnesty would also mean the Government having to build a system that meant people did not end up overstaying in the first place.
“A huge part of building a system where people do not end up as overstayers is having those pathways for all people who come here to work. There is a fear of having to confront that question.”
March said migrants were treated as economic units, with those on higher wages and more wealth prioritised, and didn’t truly value people in lower-paid work.
The current system inevitably led to economic exploitation and modern slavery, he said.
March disputed the Government’s hesitations around implementing an immediate amnesty, saying there was no evidence it would lead to more people overstaying.
“[The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment] has been unable to provide any evidence an amnesty encourages people to overstay - those are simply vibes.
“I can’t imagine anybody would come here with the intention of ending up in a situation where you have no rights.
“It is very disappointing to see them delaying this, especially when we know they are prone to exploitation. We have thousands of people living in the shadows.”
He also called on the Government to immediately pause deportations of current overstayers given it asserts it is “actively considering” an amnesty in the near future.
National has said it does not support an amnesty for overstayers.
Ireland, where there are about 17,000 undocumented migrants, recently launched an amnesty scheme.
New Zealand has not had an amnesty scheme since 2000, when “well-settled” overstayers at the time were able to apply for a pathway to residency, covering about 7000 people.
According to Immigration NZ’s latest data, in 2017 about 14,000 people were in New Zealand unlawfully, or “overstayers”. INZ is updating that estimate this year.
Of those, just over 1000 were children. Most were from Tonga (2498), Samoa (1549) followed by China (1529) and India (1310).
Of the more than 700 overstayer deportations since 2019 over half have been Chinese, and about a quarter Indian. A breakdown of the 19 dawn raids since June last year shows similar proportions with 10 Chinese and four Indians. Three were of Pacific origin.
Deportations dropped dramatically during the pandemic but have recently started to increase again.
