Prior to the Labour Party's victory in the 2017 federal elections, current New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had made a promise to a group of Indian students who were facing deportation.
The group’s lawyer Alastair McClymont claims that Jacinda Ardern along with the then Labour leader Andrew Little had pledged their support to the affected students, should the party gain power, during their visit to an Auckland church where some of the students had taken refuge, nearly two years ago.
Mr McClymont has alleged that the Labour Party later went silent on its pledge to help the students, despite winning the election.
"These people [the deported Indian students] expected to be returning to New Zealand almost immediately, based on the promises they were given at the church. I think they were used by Labour in an election year." Mr McClymont told Radio New Zealand.
In February 2017, 150 international students from India were deported from New Zealand after the Immigration Department discovered that their supporting visa documents were forged by their India-based education agent.
Ever since the fraud came to light, these students have claimed that they were unaware that their agent had employed fraudulent means to procure their visas.
Meanwhile, responding to Mr McClymont’s allegation of "breaking the promise and running miles away from the case", Ms Ardern said given her advocacy occurred in opposition it was “no longer appropriate” for her to intervene into the matter, RNZ reported.
While most of the affected students left the country, at least nine of them are still reported to be in New Zealand, waiting for a response from the Immigration Department on their Special Directions applications.
A Special Directions decision can only be made by New Zealand’s Immigration Minister (or his or her delegate) to waive off an immigration requirement in very special circumstances.
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