Alistair McClymont: immigration lawyer on what could happen to NZ-born teens at risk of deportation

Questions are being raised over cases where New Zealand-born teenagers fear being kicked out of the country for being illegal overstayers.

A law change in 2006 removed the right to citizenship by birth for children born in New Zealand - but there's a wave of kids born after that date who are set to turn 18 and it's unclear what could happen to them.

Immigration lawyer Alistair McClymont says he's representing some of these kids - who he feels are 'innocent' in this situation. 

"They need to be separated from adults who make conscious decisions to remain in a country unlawfully. These kids don't make those conscious decisions. They're just born - that's it."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are calls to grant amnesty to New Zealand born
teenagers who are technically illegal overstayers. Birthright citizenship was outlawed
in two thousand and six, and kids who have been
born to overstays since that date are about to turn eighteen.
But the trouble is turning eighteen when you're an overstayer,
it means you can't study any further, means you can't work.
So what do they do. Aliston mcclimont is an immigration

(00:21):
immigration lawyer representing a bunch of these cases and is
with US now Alistair.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, Hi Heather, how are you well?

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Thanks mate? How many of these kids are there?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's impossible to know because when kids are birth are registered,
you don't have to put down the parents' immigration status,
So there is absolutely no way statistically we can know
how many children are out there, apart from anecdotal reports
that there maybe in the hundreds.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Hundreds rather than thousands.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's really difficult to say. You can really only estimate.
It's really difficult. There is no statistical way that we
can actually tell what.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Are their parents up to? Are their parents on the benefit?
Are they working? Are they paying taxes? Is it under
the table. What's going on.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
They're all working. Some of them are actually just normal
tax paying you know, worker is like everybody else because
i ID doesn't share the information of immigration and zealance,
so there's no harm in getting a job and paying
a tax. So they're the ones who are picking our
fruits and vegetables and cleaning our offices and working their
butts off to try and provide for their families, just

(01:20):
like everyone else.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Now, if we give the kids amnesty, we have to
give the parents amnesty, don't they don't.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
We Well, I'm advocating for the children and this one.
You know, sometimes the parents just want a future for
their children, and a lot of times that's you know,
that's the reason why a lot of people might grad
to this company, because they want to be at a
future for their kids.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Alistair, what child is going to come forward and say, hey, look,
I am an overstayer. Technically I need amnesty. If they
know that that risks their parents' status and the parents
might be deported.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Well, it doesn't necessarily mean that at all. I mean,
if you basically grant the kids residency, it doesn't mean
anything for the parents. The parents' cases will be considered
on a case by case basis. How do they become
an oversayer? What steps have they taken? Do they have
a criminal background, are they well settled in this country.
Everything's done on a case by case basis. It's just
for the kids. They are innocent victims and they are

(02:14):
extremely vulnerable, so they really need to be separated from
adults who make conscious decisions to remain in a country unlawfully.
These kids don't make those conscious decisions. They're just born.
That's it.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Are these people generally law abiding other than obviously being overstayers?
Are they generally law abiding or have they brushed up
against the law in other ways?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Immigration New Zealand prioritize the deportation of overstayers who criminally offend.
Quite often they'll go to the courts and sort of
deportation orders when they come up from the courts. The
fact that these the parents of these kids have been
here for twenty five years tells you that they do
not have any criminal offending.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Alistair, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Alista mclemont,
the immigration lawyer. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
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