Minister tells Immigration NZ to suspend migrant risk factor data modelling programme amid racial profiling claims

Iain Lees-Galloway says he is "comfortable" Immigration NZ is not using race or nationality in new data modelling. Photo / NZME

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has told Immigration NZ to suspend the pilot of the new programme to use data to model the risk factors of new migrants.

However Lees-Galloway said reports INZ was basing its decisions on factors such as nationality or race were incorrect.

Lees-Galloway asked for a report after claims the new method was racial profiling.

He said he was "comfortable" Immigration NZ is not using race or nationality in new data modelling.

However he asked them to suspend it while the Privacy Commission and Human Rights Commission check it.

INZ has assured him they were acting appropriately and using immigration data properly but he was concerned about the perception people were being identified as high-risk based on ethnicity following media reports on the new system.

They had assured him neither nationality nor ethnicity were data points used.