A justice reform group has called for more refugees who commit crimes to be deported, regardless of what other countries might say.
Scott Guthrie of the Transforming Justice Foundation (TJF), a Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST) spinoff group, told The AM Show imprisoned immigrants and refugees are costing "millions of dollars a year" and should just be sent home.
"Even if you're a refugee, you go to prison and commit crime in our country, that someone's got to be accountable and at some stage they can be deported."
Guthrie's comments come after it emerged National granted a work visa to a repeat drink-driver, and Labour granted him residency; and Destiny Church matriarch Hannah Tamaki suggested paying refugees $50,000 each to stay in their war-torn home states.
"Sometimes they have to stay here, but... we have got several immigrants in this country which are costing us millions of dollars a year to keep them in prison," said Guthrie. "We're saying they should be on the first plane home and their country should be paying the bill."
Newshub has requested evidence from Guthrie, who set up TJE after becoming frustrated with the SST's hard-line on lengthy prison sentences, of his claims. Newshub has also contacted Corrections for statistics on immigrant and refugee imprisonment.
If prisoners can't be deported, Guthrie said their home countries should be footing the bill for their imprisonment here, admitting that would require reciprocal agreements with other countries that probably wouldn't happen.
Even if agreements couldn't be reached, Guthrie said we should stick them on the "first plane home" anyway.
"What could the world do to us? ... What can they do to us at the end of the day? It's our country, it's our policy... what can the United Nations do to us?"
New Zealand deported 642 people in the 2017/18 financial, Immigration NZ statistics show, at a cost of around $2 million, NZME reported at the time. The vast majority were overstayers and hadn't committed a serious crime.
The law says refugees can be deported only if they've committed a "very serious crimes or are a threat to New Zealand national security", according to Community Law, or they obtained their refugee status via fraud.
Newshub.
