by frog
The case of James Kirkwood, the Kiwi man who was held for six weeks in a US homeland security detention centre, bestows no credit whatsoever on the Government or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Kirkwood was taken into custody with eight British workmates when the aviation company they were working for failed to provide them with the proper work visas, as promised. However, while the British authorities seemed to move heaven and earth to get their citizens released within ten days, Mr Kirkwood had to wait for close to two months.
His assessment of the efforts by New Zealand officials in the United States to get him released are damning. Reports the Herald on Sunday:
Mr Kirkwood was shackled in handcuffs and leg-restraints and transferred to the Tansas Detention Centre in Louisiana, where he began a six-week ordeal.
He and 82 other prisoners, mostly immigrants who had committed felonies, shared toilet, bathroom and sleeping facilities in a single room about the size of a basketball court.
“There was no privacy at all, no wall between the toilets and where you slept. You could smell, hear and see everything that went on,” he said.
The food was often “inedible”, and officials refused to answer questions and seemed to change the house rules on a daily basis.
After originally being told he would be freed within a fortnight, Mr Kirkwood was later told he could expect to spend three to five months in the Louisiana centre. “There were definitely days there where I just woke up and thought I was in a nightmare. I thought, what am I doing here? How did this happen? And there was just no end in sight.”…
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said last week he was satisfied with how Mr Kirkwood’s case had been handled in the US. But Mr Kirkwood, who served in the Air Force for six years before leaving on his OE in November, said he was “disgusted” the Government had not intervened to help him.
The British prisoners had been in frequent contact with their consulate, but Mr Kirkwood did not receive a single visit or phone call from any New Zealand official during his detention.
“I didn’t expect them to come in and break me out, but there were certain things they could have done: helped with contact with my family, helped me sort out my personal belongings that were still in America… just simple things.”
“I’ve served the country. I gave them a good six years of my life and I love this country but the one time I really needed them, they weren’t there.
“I feel like they let me down.”
Certainly, something must be done to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again. As Keith said a few days ago:
This case should be a catalyst for sitting down with the Americans and working out a better process. The first stage should be a speedier way of ascertaining the facts. It shouldn’t have taken more that a day, through phone calls and emails, to establish that James was the victim of a paperwork mix-up.
Once the authorities determined James was a man of good character, they could have simply released him and given him a deadline to leave the country. That is what we would have done to an American caught up in a similar visa mix-up here. There was no reason to keep James in jail prior to him leaving the country. After all, America trusts Kiwis enough to let tens of thousands of us visit visa-free every year.
Published in Justice & Democracy by frog on Sun, July 10th, 2005
Tags: environment
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Keith is too idealistic. The Americans (I should know, I’m one) don’t give a damn about ‘ascertaining the facts,” they don’t care about paperwork mix-ups, and the government is infalliable to it’s own eyes.
While it is important to realise that more could have been done in this particular case by New Zealand authorities, the Americans are not likely to listen to reason these days.
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Dumb comment Brian.
1) Just because you’re American, doesn’t mean you should know. I’m from New Zealand, so when I vote for ACT, I know better than you eh?
2) Tell the victims of the Khmer Rouge that Keith is too idealistic. Because he supported them.
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Brian: while I agree that the American government will be fairly unwilling to listen to reason, it’s no excuse to not try. The arrogance of others is no reason to change our own ways, as you seem to have suggested.
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Brian, Carnifex and Paul,
You all make the mistake of assuming “the American govt” is a single entity that is being unreasonable.
In these cases you need to remember that US immigration and “homeland security” is a mess of govt agencies all failing to co-operate, all with their own directives, goals and agendas. It’s not a single rational agent.
Which is why it can be so irrational, and why someone giving the beaurocracy a good kick can help (if they can find the right part to kick). It may be that the NZ govt lacked skill in that, rather than lacking willingness.
If so, they should work on acquiring more skills in this area.
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I don’t think they were being unreasonable at all.
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Carnifex –
The Americans have become WAY less reasonable and rational. Huge dollars are being spent on “Homeland Security”. Many of them have lost all sense of proportion, and the paperwork empires were a nightmare well before 9-11. I know, I’ve dealt with them directly because my wife is a foreigner. 3 years to process paperwork that should have taken 30 days or less… and penalties for not having it processed.
No, they are not reasonable, and throwing people in jail for having not gotten the right stamp on their visa is hardly rational, particularly when they are friendly people from a friendly country and all they want to do is go home.
But we DID fail, because the Brits were able to extricate THEIR citizens promptly and we apparently did not do what needed to be done. Which entails having some senior staff from the consulate get OUT of the office, DOWN to the place where our citizen was being held and TALKING to the people holding him. That didn’t happen. That SHOULD have happened. THAT is one of the things I believe I am paying taxes for here… and you will see in my rant on that issue that I don’t disagree with you all the time
respectfully
BJ
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Oh, I think we did fail. I just don’t blame the Americans.
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