Six-time drink driver avoids being deported

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has defended a decision to grant New Zealand residency to another convicted criminal, a person who has been living in the country for about 20 years.

Lees-Galloway said he had no choice but to allow a recidivist drink-driver, who was convicted in New Zealand, to remain, because they were a protected person under the international convention against torture. This means there is a good chance that deportation could lead to torture.

The minister said a clause in the Immigration Act meant he could not divulge what country the offender was from or any details about the case that could potentially identify them. However, he let slip that the protected person had been in the country for almost two decades, and effectively said they were a refugee.

Asked if he was certain that the person would be tortured if they returned to their to county of origin, he said the protected status was a decision of Immigration New Zealand’s refugee branch, and he accepted the determination.

The case follows a decision by Lees Galloway to grant convicted drug-smuggler Karel Sroubek residency, which he later reversed.

He said yesterday he been advised by immigration officials that deportation was not an option for the person, who had been convicted of drink-driving six times, and driving without a licence twice. The decision had effectively been made under the previous National-led government, which granted the person a rolling temporary work visa in 2013.

Anyone who drank and drove should expect to feel the full force of the law, which this person did, he said.

When asked if the person was still driving, he referred the matter to the courts and Corrections.

National leader Simon Bridges said Lees-Galloway had given the convicted drink-driver ‘‘the keys to the kingdom’’ by granting residency.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that to the best of her knowledge, no ‘‘protected person’’ had ever been deported.