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Fifty Samoan parents with New Zealand citizen children who claim to have been illegally deported have asked former immigration minister Tuariki Delamere to represent them.
Mr Delamere, an immigration consultant, travelled to Samoa last month to advise former overstayers they may be able to appeal their removal from New Zealand.
The visit followed a recent Supreme Court decision involving Chinese overstayers which highlighted legal flaws in the way immigration officials dealt with overstayers who had children or spouses who were New Zealand citizens.
Mr Delamere had written to Prime Minister John Key and Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman asking them to fix the problem.
He warned he would file High Court proceedings if he did not get an "acceptable response", and said he had 50 parents ready to act.
Before 2006, children born here were automatically citizens. However, some had been deported with their overstayer parents.
"What I will be fighting for are the rights of the citizen children to live in New Zealand, and the right to live with mum and dad," Mr Delamere told The New Zealand Herald.
"The Supreme Court's decision is not a guarantee that those overstayers who have already been removed will be able to return to New Zealand.
"However, it may offer hope for their eventual return. It is the light in the tunnel."
Immigration New Zealand head of legal services Graeme Buchanan last month said he would be "very surprised" if the court's decision offered any hope for overstayers already in Samoa.
Appeals under the Immigration Act must be made within three months, he said.
"Mr Delamere has a business I suppose and he's running it," he said.