1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,520 Speaker 1: So the greater illegal immigration debates finally arrived on New 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,320 Speaker 1: Zealand shores. Have they say about twenty one thousand overstairs? 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: Or people shouldn't be here? Tonga, China and the US? 4 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: Are you top offenders? Apparently so the government's now change 5 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: of the law crackdowns on we're linking crime and deportation, 6 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 1: with the limit going from ten years to twenty years. 7 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 1: Steve Watson's GM of Compliance and Investigations at Immigration New 8 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: Zealand And is with us. 9 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Michael. 10 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: There's twenty one thousand ish number that we've got. How 11 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: rock solid is that? Do we actually know what we're 12 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: dealing with or not? 13 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:33,200 Speaker 2: Yes, we do. The previous estimate was based on from 14 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,520 Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, was based on data that was the best 15 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 2: we had at the time. But the current estimate we 16 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 2: have spent a lot of time cleaning the data well, 17 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 2: things like removing people who have become citizens, so we've 18 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:52,599 Speaker 2: cross checked with other agencies people who have subsequently become lawful. 19 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 2: And also with one point six million border movements, there 20 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 2: will be some errors and we've done a really good 21 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 2: job in correcting, say, for example, people who come on 22 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 2: dual passports are right on one and left on another. 23 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: You've got information sharing and is it good information sharing? 24 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: Would somebody who's a bit dodgy trigger somebody somewhere? 25 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 2: Yeah? We for example criminality, we get referrals from police 26 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 2: where a person on a temporary visa or a person 27 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,559 Speaker 2: who's own lawfully in New Zealand has committed a crime 28 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 2: and we would then commence a case to deal with that. 29 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 2: Likewise with corrections, where people are in prison, people serve 30 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 2: their sentences and then are deported straight from prison. Right. 31 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: That's why I'm asking the question. Is it just crime 32 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: that triggers it? Or could you be in the country 33 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: illegally and you could do that forever? Unless you can 34 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: inder crime, No one's finding it. 35 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 2: No, we have a number of other good methods of 36 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 2: finding people. We work with a lot of other government departments. 37 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 2: We have a good investigative techniques with our frontline staff, 38 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 2: and we also have our own data that we are 39 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 2: getting much moremuch better at interrogating and being much better 40 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 2: at data driven. 41 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: Is this going to be a what is this design 42 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: to do apart from clean up a few scumbags? Is 43 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: that essentially what it's about? Or is it a chilling 44 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: effect that if you come to the country illegally, you 45 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: just don't want to go around committing a crime. 46 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,359 Speaker 2: So we take our roles regulators very seriously and there 47 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 2: is an absolute obligation on anyone who comes to New 48 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,239 Speaker 2: Zealand to comply with the terms of their visa, which 49 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 2: includes leaving before the expiry of that visa. We expect 50 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 2: people to do that and we have a number of 51 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 2: different ways of connecting with people, so we do connect 52 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 2: with people before the expiry of their visa to tell 53 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 2: them to go home. Sometimes some of my team, all 54 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 2: that's needed is for them to speak to someone who's 55 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 2: become unlawful and they will just depart at their own costs, 56 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 2: which of course as the best outcome. 57 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:52,079 Speaker 1: Indeed, all right, have a good week in Steve Steve 58 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: What's out of Immigration New Zealand. 59 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to 60 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 2: news talks that'd be from six am weekdays of the 61 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 2: podcast on iHeartRadio.