Crackdown on Pacific overstayers

By Jemima Garrett

“PACK your bags and go home.” That’s the uncomprising advice from Australia’s Immigration Minister, Gerry Hand, to the tens of thousands of illegal immi grants in the country. In the 10 months to April 1990, the number of illegal immigrants has jumped from 30,000 to 90,000. That increase has sparked an unprecedented crackdown.

Because Pacific Islanders, particularly from Fiji and and

Tonga, figure promi

nently among the stat istics on illegals, they are also topping the list of those getting the boot. 148 Pacific Islanders were expelled from the beginning of November last year to February this year.

While the statistics may sound neat and clean the reality of the raids has not been as

pleasant. Immigration

officers, sometimes ac-

companied by police, raided workers in the cotton fields around Moree, in northern New South Wales. They ar rested 24 suspects, many of them from

Fiji.

In Sydney, a group of about 10 Fiji women working in a commercial laundry in the inner city suburb of Marrickville were taken in for questioning. Another 12 Fiji nurses and nurses’ aids were caught in a raid on a hospital in the same suburb.

Others were arrested at home and homes of friends. For Tongans and other communities with a lot of illegal immigrants, the experi ence has been the same.

The raids are unsettl ing the Pacific Islands community and worry ing community leaders.

The raids are called

trawling hauling

people in until they find the overstayers. The im

migration department

admits that in most cases raids are executed with little or no know

ledge of the backgroud of the target group. But the department denies that Pacific Islanders are being targetted on racial grounds.

Most arrests are the result of tip-offs, some from outside the community or workplace and many from within by jealous workmates and vengeful former lovers.

For the illegal immigrants, some of whom have been living in Australia for up to a decade, the uncertainty and fear are excruciating. The whole community is being affected by the crackdown on overstayers. Those who have been ex pelled include at least 100 from Fiji, 34 Tongans, 8 Samoans and 2 I-Kiribati.

More are expected to be deported.

Many people caught in the raids have been released to await the results of their

applications for permanent residency.

Many applications are likely to be turned down. Nearly a quarter of all Tongans who come to Australia overstay their visas. This compares with 10 per cent for Fiji visitors. Many overstayers are never caught.

After four months of immigration raids, community leaders in Sydney and Melbourne are seeking legal advice.

There is also likely to be a protest to Hands, the Immigration Minister. □

Australian Embassy Gerry Hand: “Pack your bags”