Dean Kenny is paying the price for Winston's bigotry

The other day I pointed out NZFirst's grossly hypocritical stance in both demanding stringent checks (including DNA testing) to prevent potential migrants from using sham marriages and sham family relationships to gain entry to New Zealand, and complaining about the treatment the Department of Immigration has handed out to former All Black Dean Kenny - and pointed out the obvious reason for NZFirst's hypocrisy: Kenny's wife is British, rather than Arab or Muslim. But just in case it wasn't clear, this does not mean that I think Kenny's family has been treated fairly. The Department of Immigration have a suspicious and adversarial attitude towards potential migrants (and that is exactly what Ms Kenny and her children are - potential migrants), and the Kennys have fallen victim to it. But why does Immigration have this attitude? Part of it is the nature of the job, of course, but it is also due in no small part to constant pressure to tighten regulations and increase scrutiny from people like New Zealand First. I think Paul Swain put it perfectly when he said that

if the system was lax, the New Zealand First members would be the first to scream, whinge, and whine about it.

New Zealand First have spent their entire political career howling that our immigration regulations are too lax, and that it is too easy for people to scam the system. Dean Kenny and his family are now paying the price for that. Their treatment - the suspicion, the humiliation, the denial that valid documents constitute proof - is exactly what NZFirst have asked for. Maybe people should think of that before howling in the future...