Editorial: Family must get to stay

This week's story on the plight of the Kapila family of Te Puke, who face deportation back to India as overstayers despite 10 years here, is drawing a mixed response from readers.

On this website, there has been little sympathy for the family, with many agreeing a tough approach is necessary to discourage other overstayers.

One poster, Thomas Weingarten, states he is a migrant himself, expresses anger at "the cheaters" of the system who make it "harder for the REAL migrants".

Even the fact the Kapilas have a son born in New Zealand should not relax the ruling, says Weingarten, because "in no-time we will have more Indians here than Maoris or genuine kiwis".

But others expressed abhorrence of Immigration's treatment of the Kapilas, with one poster saying that to deport them was a "Libyan mentality".

Immigration New Zealand is right to be tough on overstayers. People who don't file the appropriate paperwork and continue to live and work here demonstrate a blatant disregard for our laws and country.

Their punishment - imprisonment and deportation - is a risk they knowingly take.

For that reason the public is generally supportive of police raids on overstayers.

But there is the letter of the law and there is justice.

Immigration cases involving families escaping poverty or danger in their home country need humane judgment on an individual basis.

On the surface, the Kapilas could be a clear-cut case. They never completed the correct paperwork and the law says they must return to their home country.

But clearly they have roots here. Their son was born here and is a New Zealand citizen. Their daughter, who arrived with her parents at just 3 years of age, is now in her first year at Te Puke High School. She would not remember any other life than the Kiwi one. To all intents and purposes New Zealand is their children's home.

The children do not deserve to be punished because of their parents' failure to produce the correct paperwork. Their mother refuses to return to the life of an Indian "slum" and she says she would sooner leave her son here.

And is it really the parents' fault they don't have the paperwork?

The Kapilas said they didn't consider themselves overstayers. They had paid considerable sums believing that an Auckland lawyer was fighting their case and have the receipts to prove it. They believed this lawyer was fighting their case until last year, but the last visa extension application filed on their behalf was in 2005.

In this case, immigration officials need to make themselves accountable. They have failed over the years to progress this case properly. It is not as if the Kapilas have been hiding in the Papamoa hills. They have been part of the community, openly trying to complete their paperwork.

Insisting on their deportation after a decade here is cruel and inhumane.

The Kapilas are overstayers according to the law. But after 10 years building a life here and trying to make it official, the family should be allowed to stay.