Immigration New Zealand says 200 visits to properties over 12 months to catch illegal immigrants were not dawn-raid style operations.
Between May 2020 - May 2021, 223 private properties were visited, not all between the standard hours.
Of that, only 36 people were found to be working and staying illegally in New Zealand.
Geoff Scott, General Manager Verification and Compliance these visits should not be considered raids.
"The visits do not involve officers attending private addresses and banging down doors. They involve knocking on the door, engaging with the occupants and where appropriate detaining people who are in the country unlawfully. If no one is present the officers leave and return at a later date," Scott told Newshub.
However 19 of these visits were made outside the considered standard hours of 06:00am - 07:00pm. These are done at different hours on a considered case-by-case basis.
Scott says the most recent estimate of illegal over-stayers carried out in 2017 is approximately 14,000.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday the Government will formally apologize to the Pasifika community for the 1970s Dawn Raids which she acknowledges racially targeted and terrorised them.
Between 1974 and 1976, police raided the homes of Pasifika families and carried out spot-checks in the streets, hunting for people who'd overstayed their visas.
The raids were racist - 40 percent of overstayers at the time were British or American, but Pasifika were targeted and the behaviour of the Government at the time sparked further racism toward Pasifika communities.
The formal Government apology for the dawn raids will be held at a commemoration event on June 26 in the Auckland Town Hall.
