Deportation to follow trial

WELLINGTON: A group of migrants who have been helping an investigation into immigration fraud may soon be forced to leave the country.

The group were some of the 50 Chinese construction workers who claimed a New Zealandbased recruiter had misled them about pay and working rights.

Last year an arrest warrant was issued for Li Wenshan, known as Peter Li, who fled New Zealand before charges were laid.

Li still faced charges for immigration fraud.

Meanwhile two other people associated with Li face a trial in December this year.

Ten workers are expected to give evidence in court, claiming they were duped.

But last week, the workers were told by Immigration authorities that they would be expected to leave the country within a month of the trial ending.

Green Party immigration spokesman Ricardo March said the treatment of this group undermined efforts to combat migrant exploitation.

‘‘These workers are not pieces of evidence, they are human beings, and so to put them in a situation where they are treated as expendable once they’re not deemed useful to provide evidence is unjust,’’ Mr March said.

He called for the immigration minister to intervene, and to send a strong message that workers holding employers to account would be supported.

One of the men due to give evidence in court, 50yearold carpenter Sheng Canhong, felt he had been punished for doing the right thing.

Sheng arrived on a work visa in 2018, but was left with no work for the initial months, and was consequently moved to a limited visa to assist with the investigation.

‘‘Because of the work situation, we had no option but to speak up. Think about it. We were in Tauranga for three months without work, we had to pay for food and accommodation. Where do we get that money?

The 10 workers had also missed out on the chance to apply for oneoff residency.

Many of them had tried to move back on to work visas, but their applications failed despite having fulltime jobs, and they struggled to understand why.

Unite Union director Mike Treen, who has assisted the men since 2019, also called for a pathway to residency for this group.

‘‘We ought to be giving them something to compensate them for the hurt, humiliation and exploitation that they’ve suffered while they’re here,’’ he said.

INZ referred RNZ to the minister for comment but Minister Michael Wood said due to legal and privacy reasons he was unable to comment on the circumstances of the workers and the case.

Meanwhile, INZ declined to answer questions on whether they’re looking to extradite Li. — RNZ