New Zealand has apologized to Pacific Islanders for the country’s past racist anti-migrant policies. In the 1970s, New Zealand police routinely raided the homes of Pacific Islanders in the middle of the night looking for residents who had overstayed their visas. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke Sunday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: “Today, I stand on behalf of the New Zealand government to offer a formal and unreserved apology to Pacific communities for the discriminatory implementation of the immigration laws of the 1970s that led to the events of the Dawn Raids.”