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A former immigration minister is using the precedent on tikanga set in the Peter Ellis case to argue for a client facing deportation for overstaying.
Lawyers for the former Christchurch Creche worker were able to secure the posthumous continuation of a Supreme Court appeal against his historical sexual offending convictions by arguing a person’s death did not extinguish their mana.
Immigration consultant John Delamere says he receives many inquiries from Indian men who have started families with Maori women and then face deportation for overstaying.
He has told an Immigration & Protection Tribunal those deportations are now unlawful because the Immigration Act and immigration policy doesn’t taken tikanga Māori into account.
“Underlying all of that is tikanga Māori, whakapapa and whanau, whanaungatanga, and so when you deport the husband or father you are destroying the unity of that whanau. Tikanga Māori would not put up with that,” Mr Delamere says.
He’s still waiting for a finding.
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