A Tongan family whose eldest son is seriously ill say they have been left broken as they fight an order for deportation.
Tina and Tafuna Vea’ila were served a deportation order at the end of last month but, whilst her husband has already been sent home, Tina remains in New Zealand with her two sons, one who is too sick to travel.
The Auckland family’s lawyer said he had asked the Associate Immigration Minister to intervene.
He said the children were born in New Zealand, the couple has paid taxes and had no criminal convictions. The family had lived in New Zealand for the last 15 years, but lost their work visa in 2017.
Tina Vea’ila was doing what she could on her own, after her husband Tafuna was taken into custody and forced to leave the country last Wednesday.
Overe past months, their 14-year-old son has battled strep throat and pneumonia. He was also admitted to hospital after suffering a seizure.
“I’m so scared because he’s not healthy, since he was born we on and off [visit] the doctor nearly every month,” Tina Vea’ila said.
“I’m so scared, if we go back, I don’t think he can survive in Tonga.”
Tina Vea’ila and her children were due to be deported on a flight on Wednesday morning but a medical report deemed her eldest son too sick to travel.
She said her husband’s deportation had left her stressed and worried about their future.
“I think, at the moment, we’re all broken,” Tina Vea’ila said.
“It’s not easy, it’s a very hard situation for me […] when they took my husband, I never sleep.
“I just want to beg [the associate minister] to give us a chance, so that my boys will have a good education here and a better life.”
‘Just grant these people residence’
The family’s lawyer, Soane Foliaki, said the couple had no criminal convictions, had paid thousands of dollars in taxes, and were an integral part of their community.
Both boys had done well at school and received certificates for their achievements.
He said Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk had the power to keep them in the country.
“I think the minister has the authority and has the discretion to just grant these people residence,” Foliaki said.
“This is a deserving case, it’s consistent with what he’s previously done in the past, and I think this is an appropriate case to grant them resident status.”
Foliaki had written to Penk, asking him to grant the family residency.
“It’s not unusual, it’s not out of the way, I often get successful decisions from the Associate Minister of Immigration, particularly for families who’ve been here for a number of years.”
In a statement, Penk said no action would be taken until the intervention request was considered.
“The application has been accepted for consideration,” he said.
“I have been advised compliance action will not be taken by INZ while a decision is being made.
“I consider it inappropriate to comment on the circumstances of individual cases.”
The Green Party’s immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said he would be writing to Penk on Thursday to request his intervention in the case, and stop the deportation.
“We have two young people facing being completely stripped from the country that they have known. Doing that would put them in a situation that would not only deteriorate the health of one of the kids, but would permanently strip their livelihoods.”
Menéndez March said families were having to spill their guts to the media to get the minister’s attention.
“We also understand that we have a role to play here, because the minister has committed to personally review and look at ministerial intervention requests from other members of Parliament, which is why we think it’s important that we as the Greens put in a ministerial intervention to ensure it gets the minister’s attention.”
rnz.co.nz
