The cruelty of Jacinda Ardern’s immigration policy

‘Kindness and not being afraid to be kind,’ says New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, is the key to her leadership. Try telling that to the family of a 12-year-old from the Philippines, who has been banned from moving to New Zealand due to potential costs to the country’s healthcare system associated with her autism.

For half of her life, Arianna Alfonzo has lived away from her father, a construction industry worker in Auckland. Her mother, Gail Alfonzo, has stayed with Arianna overseas. Both parents have permanent residency status in New Zealand. A #LetAriannaStayNZ petition, which has got over 2,000 signatures, follows a nearly 35,000-signature petition submitted to Parliament last year. But still Ardern’s government refuses to back down.

Arianna was denied a visitor visa in 2018 after she was deemed not to have met the ‘acceptable standards of health’. She fell foul of an immigration policy that considers whether a person would cost the nation’s special education or healthcare systems more than $41,000 (£23,170) over five years.

The Alfonzos sought a reprieve late last year from the associate immigration minister, citing cases in which families with autistic children have been initially denied a visa but later granted an exception.