the Dawn Raids

Once Upon a Time in 1973 there were was pacific people coming to New Zealand and living here and at early dawns cops will come into the pacific peoples house and sending them back to there country dawn raids  were a common event in Auckland, New Zealand, during a crackdown on illegal overstays from the Pacific Islands from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. The raids were first introduced in 1973 by Norman Kirk's Labor government and were continued by Rob Muldoon's National government.Dawn raids were a common event in Auckland , New Zealand, during a crackdown on illegal overstaye from the Pacific Islands from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. The raids were first introduced in 1973 by Norman Kirk's Labour government and were continued by Rob Muldoon's National government.These operations involved special police squads conducting raids on the homes and workplaces of overstayed throughout New Zealand usually at dawn. Overstayed and their families were often prosecuted and then deported back to their countries.

The Dawn Raids were a product of the New Zealand government's immigration policies to attract more Pacific Islanders. Since the 1950s, the New Zealand government had encouraged substantial emigration from several Pacific countries including Samoa  Tonga, and Fiji  to fill a labour shortage caused by the post–war economic boom. Consequently, the Pacific Islander population in New Zealand had grown to 45,413 by 1971, with a substantial number overstaying their visas. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, New Zealand's economy had declined due to several international developments: a decline in international wool prices in 1966, Britain joining the European  Economic community  in 1973 which deprived NZ of a major market for dairy products, and the 1973 oil  crisis. This economic downturn led to increased crime, unemployment and other social ailments, which disproportionately affected the Pacific Islander community.

In response to these social problems, Prime Minister Kirk created a special police task force in Auckland in 1973 which was tasked with dealing with overstayed. Its powers also included the power to conduct random checks on suspected overstayed. Throughout 1974, the New Zealand Police   conducted dawn raids against overstayed which sparked criticism from human rights groups and sections of the press. In response to public criticism, the Labour Immigration Minister Fraser  Coleman suspended the dawn raids until the government developed a "concerted plan." In April 1974, Kirk also introduced a two–month amnesty period for overstayed to register themselves with the authorities and be granted a two–month visa extension. Kirk's change in policies were criticized by the mainstream press, which highlighted crimes and violence perpetrated by Maori  and Pacific Islanders.

In July 1974, the opposition National leader Mulldon promised to reduce immigration and to "get tough" on law and order issues if his party was elected as government. He criticized the Labour government's immigration policies for contributing to the economic recession and a housing shortage. During the 1975 general elections, the National Party also played a controversial electoral advertisement that was later criticized for stoking negative racial sentiments about Polynesian migrants. Once in power, Muldoon's government accelerated the Kirk government's police raids against Pacific overstayed.

The Dawn Raids were condemned by different sections of New Zealand society including the Pacific Islander and Maori  communities, church groups, employers and workers' unions, anti-racist groups, and the opposition Labour Party. One Pacific group known as the Polynesian  Panthers  combated the Dawn Raids by providing legal aid to detainees and staging retaliatory "dawn raids" on several National cabinet ministers including Bill birch and Frank grill, the Minister of Immigration. The raids were also criticized by elements of the police and the ruling National Party for damaging race relations with the Pacific Island community.Critics also alleged that the Dawn Raids unfairly targeted Pacific Islanders since Pacific Islanders only comprised one-third of the overstayed but made up 86% of those arrested and prosecuted for overstaying. The majority of overstayed were from Great Britain, Australia, and South Africa. The Muldoon government's treatment of overstayed so damaged relations with Pacific countries like Samoa and Tonga, and generated criticism from the South Pacific Forum. By 1979, the Muldoon government terminated the Dawn Raids sine the deportation of illegal Pacific overstayed had failed to alleviate the ailing New Zealand economy.Raid.