MPs bin ACT's election policy to make some migrants liable for deportation for life
Immigration minister Erica Stanford (right) and ACT's Parmjeet Parmar.
ACT Party's proposal would raise questions of proportionality in criminal justice, a select committee has found.
A parliamentary committee has rejected a key ACT Party election pitch to make some resident migrants liable for deportation for the rest of their life.
Before it made the tougher deportation rule its official election policy, ACT had put the idea before a select committee examining the Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill after its first reading in Parliament.
Immigration minister Erica Stanford has championed the bill, saying it will improve immigration enforcement and strengthen integrity of the refugee and protection system.
On March 26, 2026, ACT's immigration spokesperson Parmjeet Parmar wrote to the Education and Workforce Committee to add unlimited deportation liability clause to the bill.
The party later made the same proposal one of the six points in its immigration policy for Election 2026.
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Under the policy, residence-class visa holders convicted of offences carrying sentences of 10 years or more could remain liable for deportation regardless of how long they had lived in New Zealand.
But in its final report on the bill presented to Parliament on August 7, the committee declined to adopt Parmar’s proposal.
The committee, chaired by National MP Katie Nimon, concluded New Zealand’s existing immigration law deliberately takes into account how long a person has held residence, with a stronger justification needed for deportation the longer they have been settled here.
“Shifting to an indefinite liability period would be a significant departure from the long-standing graduated deportation liability framework,” the committee said.
“We think that unlimited liability would raise valid questions of proportionality, and could be difficult to justify.”
It said the proposal could also create inconsistencies with the wider approach taken in the Government bill and, “on balance”, decided against including it in its recommendations.
ACT says time should not provide ‘permanent immunity’
ACT has defended the policy, telling Awaaz that unlimited deportation liability would not mean automatic deportation.
“ACT respectfully disagrees with the committee’s conclusion. Unlimited deportation liability would not mean automatic deportation. It would preserve the ability to consider deportation when a residence-class visa holder commits a serious offence,” an ACT Party spokesperson said.
“A person’s time in New Zealand, personal circumstances and the proportionality of deportation could still be considered on a case-by-case basis.
“However, the passage of time should not provide permanent immunity from deportation following serious offending.”
When it comes to deportation, New Zealand law treats migrants differently depending on how long they have held residence.
For relatively new residents, even lower-level offending can lead to deportation. If someone has only recently settled in New Zealand and has few established ties here, the law gives them less protection from being removed.
But that changes with time. As migrants spend longer in New Zealand and build lives, families and connections here, deportation is treated as an increasingly serious consequence.
The law, therefore, progressively narrows the circumstances in which a resident can be deported for criminal offending.
Under the current system, after 10 years of residence criminal offending can no longer make a migrant liable for deportation under these provisions.
The government bill would stretch that outer limit to 20 years for people sentenced to 10 years or more in prison. ACT wants to remove that limit altogether.
As Awaaz explained earlier, the government bill is also extending the existing deportation-liability periods for resident migrants convicted of criminal offences.
The current two-year window would become five years, the five-year window would become 10 years, and the 10-year window would become 15 years.
ACT formally recorded its disagreement in the select committee report, saying residence in New Zealand was granted on an expectation that migrants would respect the country’s laws, values and way of life.
The Education and Workforce Committee has recommended by majority that the Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill be passed with amendments.
The bill will now go through its second reading in Parliament.
