Modern slavery awaits migrants
Immigrants flooding into the country are easy pickings for ruthless business owners, and a government watchdog is struggling to cope, writes Craig Hoyle.
Pritpal Singh came to New Zealand in search of a brighter future. He’d grown up in the northern Indian city of Jammu near the border with Pakistan, just a few hundred kilometres from Islamabad.
Now, dressed in a grey hoodie and blue sports shirt, he speaks hesitantly as he gestures and tells the story in Punjabi of how he became a migrant victim.
Singh, also known as Sunny to his friends, arrived in New Zealand on a student visa in 2010.
He enrolled in a business management course before travelling to the Bay of Plenty to earn some extra money to support himself.
Singh found himself working as a virtual slave, pressured into using a fake ID and putting in 80-hour weeks on kiwifruit orchards around Opotiki for as little as $25 a day.
It was gruelling work in the sun and rain, where he and other migrant workers lived in fear – the perceived threat of being deported or kidnapped hung over their heads if they dared complain.
Singh’s employer promised the rest of his wages as a lump sum once his contract ended; that never happened.
Instead, he says his boss kept most of the orchard fees for himself and told his workers to get lost when they asked for their share.
When Singh protested, the contractor threatened to turn him over to Immigration NZ for breaching the terms of his student visa.
Singh is just one of the many migrants who become victims once they arrive in New Zealand; a recent two-year study from the University of Auckland identified a pattern of similar stories.
‘‘Exploitation of migrant workers is quite widespread in some industry sectors,’’ says Dr Christina Stringer, an associate professor with the Faculty of Business and Economics.
Many migrants are afraid to speak out for fear of being deported: ‘‘That’s a threat that’s often held over employees, is that they’ll be turned over to Immigration NZ.’’
Foreigners are flooding into New Zealand to work and study. In the year ending June 2016, 183,583 people arrived on work visas, while 94,941 arrived on student visas.
Those figures are triple what they were for the year ending June 2004.
This migration explosion has provided a steady supply of cheap labour, with many of the new arrivals unaware of what they’re entitled to under New Zealand’s labour laws.
‘‘We want cheap products, and we want to utilise a lowcost or no-cost model,’’ says crusading Tauranga lawyer Craig Tuck, who campaigns for the rights of foreign workers.
‘‘Often it’s the poorest and most vulnerable people that end up being exploited, and allowing us to have cheaper products or higher productivity.’’ Being handed over to Immigration NZ may be a potent threat for some migrants, but in reality the department has struggled to monitor the swelling number of foreigners crossing our borders.
The increase is making many Kiwis uncomfortable, and New Zealand faces the prospect of a populist backlash that reflects a global wave of anti-immigrant sentiment.
Growing unease with what was seen as uncontrolled immigration encouraged the UK to vote to leave the European Union, amid fears that migrants were squeezing native Brits out of the labour market.
Similar discontent saw Donald Trump elected to the White House following a campaign promise to crack down on immigration and build his now-infamous wall along the United States border with Mexico.
America has exported some of that fear to New Zealand. One of Trump’s backers, Facebook billionaire Peter Thiel, was revealed this week to have taken out New Zealand citizenship and bought an estate in Wanaka. He is a rich and outspoken proponent of ‘‘seasteads’’ – creating small and insular Pacific Island gated states to act as exclusive havens from the intrusions of tax, welfare and uncontrolled migration.
Mahesh Bindra dreamed of an improved life for his children. He had a comfortable life in Mumbai, India, but felt education opportunities would be better in New Zealand, prompting a move around 15 years ago.
Bindra threw himself into the Kiwi way of life, and just over a decade later made his way into parliament as an MP for NZ First.
While he’s grateful for the opportunities he’s had as a migrant arrival, he’s worried the system is now being abused, and is concerned that student visas in particular are being used as a back door to get into New Zealand.
‘‘Our immigration policy is so wide, and so vague, that you can drive a double-decker bus through it,’’ he says.
‘‘People are making good use of that, but you can’t blame the students. We have to blame ourselves for not formulating quality immigration policy.’’
Bindra’s status as a native Punjabi speaker has made him a point of contact for young Indians who find themselves in difficult situations.
Their calls for help prompted Bindra to embark on a road trip to the Bay of Plenty with fellow NZ First MP Richard Prosser, where the pair discovered people packed into houses five to a room.
Stories emerged of unscrupulous employers who set up companies, worked the orchards for a season then disappeared as quickly as they’d arrived, skimming off most of the fees for themselves.
Bindra says workers are ‘‘given basic rations, and they basically work like slaves, in the hope that one day their student visa can be converted to a work visa, and then on to permanent residence.’’ Many are afraid to speak out. ‘‘They force these people to work, and they threaten them that ‘if you don’t work for us then we will complain about you to the police or kidnap you’,’’ he says.
Peter Devoy spent 33 years with the police force stamping out financial crime.
He joined Immigration NZ 21⁄2 years ago as assistant general manager for compliance and border operations.
The common thread of economic exploitation has carried over to Devoy’s new role, and he echoes concerns about the way vulnerable people are treated once they arrive in the country.
‘‘We’re seeing cases where passports are taken, their movements are restricted, and their support lines within New Zealand are narrowed, so they’re trapped,’’ he says.
Devoy acknowledges the current student visa scheme is difficult to monitor, with authorities mostly unable to track who is working more than the 20 hours allowed each week.
‘‘People come in and they’re obviously here to work … but trying to police the 20-hour rule is very difficult.’’
Devoy concedes Immigration NZ does not have the resources to investigate every case of suspected abuse, but says the department is ramping up its efforts to protect vulnerable migrants.
‘‘We’ve established a serious offences unit in Auckland, and they’re taking on more high-end