Latest news with #undocumentedChildren
RNZ News
4 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
New Zealand's invisible children
Photo: janfaukner/123RF When Helen Clark's Labour government brought in a law that would create waves of undocumented children, even the immigration experts had no idea of the impact it would have on thousands of lives. The 2006 Citizenship Amendment Act ended automatic citizenship for children born here to overstayers or parents with temporary visas. It was also supported by the National party. Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont has been working in the sector for more than 25 years, but only recently discovered the fallout from the law. "It never really occurred to me that this would actually be a problem," he says. "It was only really when these children started coming forward that I thought 'this is really unusual, I wonder how many other children are in this sort of situation'. "It is only recent because these children are now finishing high school and realising that their life has now come to an end, they don't have any options as to what to do." They are called 'the invisible children', says RNZ immigration reporter Gill Bonnett. They are mainly children of overstayers or temporary visa holders from Pacific countries, India or China. She's known about them for many years, but they have been hidden or protected by their parents and communities. "These people don't want to come forward because they are scared about the consequences of doing so and they don't want to speak up either in the media or necessarily don't want to put their case in front of immigration officials in case it means that they or their parents get deported." The case of Daman Kumar brought the issue to light, she says, when he bravely spoke to RNZ Asia reporter Blessen Tom two years ago . At the time, the teenager's voice was disguised and he went unnamed for fear that he would be deported to India, along with his parents. This year he hit the headlines and his identity was revealed when he was on the verge of deportation. "He'd been able to go to school okay but when it came to thinking about university or work he realised that he had nowhere to go," says Bonnett. To further complicate the matter, Kumar's sister was unaffected because she was born before the 2006 law, meaning she is legally a New Zealand citizen. And it is not unique to the Kumar family, Bonnett says. She explains to The Detail what was happening in New Zealand when the law was brought in, including the sense of moral panic. At the time Helen Clark said she was concerned about incidents of people flying to New Zealand for a short time and having babies here to ensure they gained passports, known as "birth tourism". Clark said the government would be silly not to look at this, given what other countries were doing. "They call it the 'anchor babies'," says Bonnett. "The idea that if your child had citizenship that later on in life you might be able to get citizenship yourself or that you would just be bestowing good privileges on them for later on." She says there were concerns on both sides of the ledger at the time, concerns on one side about birth tourism, where a child born on New Zealand soil would automatically get citizenship, and on the other side concerns about children who had lived here all their lives but didn't have citizenship. It is not clear how many children are undocumented, but McClymont says it could be thousands and the number will keep growing. "Every year now more and more children are going to be coming out of high school and realising that they can't study, they can't go and get jobs because it would be a breach of the law for employers to employ someone who's here unlawfully. So they can't work, they can't study, they can't travel, they just simply cannot do anything." McClymont says he has not had a satisfactory response from the government to his suggestion that New Zealand follow Australia and Britain by giving children birthright citizenship after 10 years of habitual residence. "Really, it's hard to see what the justification is for punishing these children. Nobody is making the argument that these children have done something wrong and that they deserve to be punished. "The only potential argument is that these children are being punished as a deterrent for others against having children here in New Zealand," he says. "It's just unfathomable as a society that we can actually do this to children and use them for this purpose. There doesn't seem to be any moral justification whatsoever for treating them so badly." Check out how to listen to and fol low The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
CTV News
29-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Edmonton school trustees, advocates want province to allow undocumented kids to enrol
Elementary students coats and boots are seen in a school in Edmonton on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Edmonton public school trustees have voted to push Alberta's government to make legislative changes to allow undocumented kids to enrol in school and increase education funding accordingly. The unanimous vote Tuesday came after advocacy groups sent speakers and affected children to months of school board meetings to bring the issue to light. Thirteen-year-old Areana Capata was one such speaker. At a meeting last month, she told trustees that she has three siblings who haven't been able to attend school in two years. 'How will they go to college, get jobs they love, or even feel confident in themselves if they're constantly being denied the chance to grow up?' Capata told trustees. 'The worst part is it's not their fault. No child chooses to be undocumented.' Trustee Jan Sawyer said during Tuesday's meeting that it's critical the school division does 'everything it can' to ensure undocumented children get an education. 'That's why we're here, because we believe it's essential,' Sawyer said. Whitney Haynes, the executive director of the Alberta Workers Association for Research and Education, said in an interview her organization is working with nine children in the Edmonton area, though she knows more are out there. Haynes said not every situation is simple. She said Canadian residency status can be a fluctuating process and while some parents come to Canada through unofficial channels, there are other situations where parents with temporary work visas are between jobs or when a work permit expires. 'Once that expires, then they're undocumented,' Haynes said, adding that when a parent's permit expires, so does the mechanism that allows their kids to attend Alberta schools. 'These kids are often under threat in school, but they had never been kicked out in the past. Just recently (we) started seeing them being kicked out.' Haynes said Edmonton's Catholic school board has been more likely to kick students out for lapsed visa status, and her organization has been trying to work with the division but has been met with silence. Edmonton Catholic spokesperson Christine Meadows said in an email that it was aware of Tuesday's vote and that it's 'committed to welcoming all students to the fullest extent allowed by provincial legislation and policy.' Meadows said her division was pleased to see a motion to bring the advocacy item forward to the provincial school boards association also pass on Tuesday. 'It's important that school boards across the province have the opportunity to discuss complex issues like this one together,' she said. A report prepared for Tuesday's Edmonton Public School trustees meeting said besides wanting the division to advocate to the province, the division also received requests to implement a 'sanctuary policy' where schools could enrol undocumented children regardless of their residency status. It says under Alberta legislation that isn't possible, whereas Ontario's education laws actually require admission regardless of legal residency status. Alberta's Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides didn't answer emailed questions about if he plans to follow through on the request or if he'd meet with the trustees, but he said most foreign children are eligible for public education in the province. 'This includes children of temporary residents as well as families with refugee status, including those claiming refugee status after they have arrived,' Nicolaides said. 'As a rule, the only instance where a child's education would not be covered is if they were arriving as a tourist or visitor.' Nicolaides also said 'there is a difference between having a right to access education and a right for that education to be delivered free of charge.' Alberta's Education Act stipulates that only students who are legal residents of Alberta, and who have at least one parent that is a resident of Alberta, are eligible to receive a publicly funded education. However, non-Alberta resident children who are legal residents elsewhere in Canada can attend public schools in Edmonton — for a fee. 'Since the division does not receive per-student provincial funding for these ineligible students, the fee is required to help cover the cost of providing educational programming,' reads a report from earlier this month by Edmonton Public's superintendent of schools, Darrel Robertson. Robertson's report said the fee for the current school year is just over $10,000, and noted that two non-resident students from Nunavut were registered in Edmonton public schools this year. The report says there's also a fee, which is higher, for international students. The director of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, Renee Vaugeois, whose organization has been part of the advocacy campaign, said there wasn't a difference as Nicolaides described. 'Under the (United Nations) Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly all children, especially the primary school level up to Grade 12, have the right to education,' Vaugeois said, noting Alberta formally endorsed the convention in 1999. 'We've ratified that convention. That is international binding law but the Alberta Education Act is written in a way to exclude certain people.' Vaugeois said she was thrilled to see the Edmonton Public School trustees vote the way they did, but noted nothing is going to change unless Alberta's government gets on board. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Edmonton school trustees, advocates want province to allow undocumented kids to enrol
Elementary students coats and boots are seen in a school in Edmonton on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Edmonton public school trustees have voted to push Alberta's government to make legislative changes to allow undocumented kids to enrol in school. The vote comes after advocacy groups sent speakers and affected children to months of school board meetings to bring the issue to light. Alberta Workers Association for Research and Education director Whitney Haynes says her organization is working with nine such children in the Edmonton area, though she knows more are out there. Haynes says Canadian residency status can be a fluctuating process that can lead to lapses and leave kids undocumented, like when parents on temporary work visas are between jobs. Alberta's education minister says most foreign children are eligible for public education in the province, but not all. Demetrios Nicolaides says children have a right to education, but that doesn't necessarily mean education comes 'free of charge.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
