The independent research that informs this reporting was funded through a Fulbright scholarship undertaken at Georgetown University in Washington DC. The views and information do not represent the Fulbright Programme, the US government or the New Zealand Government.
By Gill Bonnett of RNZ
What started as a scheme to check the identities of a few thousand asylum seekers has spiralled into a vast network of data about everyone who comes and goes from the Five Eyes nations.
On the third floor of a central Auckland office building, people are silently queueing. The atmosphere is tense. It’s always tense.
Day after day, people lined up at the United States Consulate anxiously wait, clutching the myriad documents they need to work or study in America. They’ve sent in their applications, given up their personal details, their social media handles, their photos, and evidence of their reason for visiting. They press their fingerprints on to a machine to be digitally recorded. Then, a brief (and sometimes harsh) interview with an official at a counter window in full view of an uneasy queue.