Before he killed himself, Leroy Meki told his sister he was sick with stress about the threat of deportation which had hung over his head for more than two years.
The day before her brother died, Claudine says he was turned down for a job due to his uncertain immigration status.
“Because of his anxiety and depression, it sort of just put a block in the middle and he couldn’t see past it,” she says.
But what Meki, his lawyer and his family did not know was that his visa had already been cancelled nine months earlier, last November.
Claudine says she only learned of the cancellation three weeks after her brother’s suicide in August, after Guardian Australia contacted the Department of Home Affairs.
“He’d been living with me and we didn’t know anything,” Claudine says. “The system is absolutely broken. It’s disgusting.”
Claudine says her brother had always battled with his mental health, but his condition deteriorated after receiving notice in June 2020 that the minister was considering cancelling his visa on character grounds, under section 501 of the Migration Act.
The 28-year-old was born in New Zealand but had lived in New South Wales since the age of seven and fathered three children who were all Australian citizens.
“He always had mental health issues growing up and didn’t really know how to deal with those sorts of things,” Claudine says. “But as soon it was known to him about the whole immigration thing it made things worse.”
Meki served no time in prison but had previously been found guilty of several driving offences, stealing and possessing a firearm.
His lawyer, Ziya Zarifi, says the threat of deportation weighed heavily on Meki’s mind.
“The delay in making a decision on his case and the risk of a negative decision, leading to potentially detainment and deportation and separation from his family, it was constantly on his mind,” he says.
In an email sent to Zarifi after the Guardian’s inquiries, the department said it had been “intending” to provide a notification of cancellation once Meki was “located and detained”.
But Zarifi believes there should have been no issue locating Meki as he was arrested twice after his visa was cancelled and had also appeared before the courts.
In February, Meki was charged with driving offences, breaching an AVO and possession of drugs, but several of these offences were dismissed on the basis of his mental health and he was released into the care of a psychologist. Two other convictions were under appeal.
The department refuses to answer questions about whether the government failed to inform Meki or his lawyer of the cancellation, and why he was not in detention as a result of it, saying they do not comment on individual cases.
The deportation of New Zealanders is a long-running source of political tension between Australia and its neighbour across the Tasman.
The incoming federal Labor government has indicated it will continue deportations under section 501 of the Migration Act but will adjust the ministerial direction to ensure decisions better take into account the time a person has been in Australia.
New Zealand’s foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, said in February the country was “concerned that Australia continues to send people to New Zealand who have never lived here and have no family or support networks at all”.
As Guardian Australia has reported, another New Zealander, Leah Porter, died at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre in May while pending deportation.
Claudine is “traumatised” by her brother’s suicide but feels a responsibility to speak up and prevent further deaths.
“There needs to be something done about it so this doesn’t keep happening,” she says.
“It’s not fair for people that are in this situation.”
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Indigenous crisis hotline 13 YARN 13 92 76. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org
