Japan faces scrutiny over longer detentions at immigration centers
02 October 2018
The East Japan Immigration Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture Photo: REUTERS file
Twenty-two-year-old Jaramillo Jonathan, the son of undocumented foreign nationals from Colombia, was born and raised in Japan. But he is among many such foreigners being held at immigration detention facilities with no release in sight due to his unique circumstances in the country.
Japan has seen a spike in the number of such detainees who are facing extended detentions, despite domestic and international criticism over treatment that is pushing some of them to the breaking point, even leading to a suicide earlier this year.
Data compiled by the Justice Ministry showed that more than 700 people, or around half of the detainees, have been held for over six months in immigration facilities. The numbers have surged due to the ministry's crackdown on overstayers, who refuse to leave the country since their livelihoods are based in Japan.
Immigration problems and growing calls for reform of Japan's policies come at a time when the government wants to attract more foreign workers to address the country's serious labor shortage amid a shrinking population.
While the country plans to introduce from April next year a new visa status valid for up to five years in principle, such workers will be banned from bringing their family members. The government says they are different from immigrants.
More foreign residents are also being detained for longer periods of time as the government is increasingly refusing to grant them provisional release, which requires them not to work.
Jonathan, who was born and raised in Yokohama, is being detained at the East Japan Immigration Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, in eastern Japan.
As a youth he was sent to a juvenile reformatory on charges of fraud and after his release in August 2016 placed in the immigration detention center. It is the same center where an Indian man committed suicide in April, among a growing number of suicide attempts by other stressed and depressed detainees.
Jonathan says he wishes to pay his debt to Japan through volunteer activities and work. But his dream seems far off.
"At the juvenile reformatory, I studied and got a license to handle hazardous materials, but I am only wasting my time here."
At the end of July, of the 1,309 individuals held in immigration facilities throughout Japan, 54 percent, or 709 of them, had been detained for more than six months, according to the ministry. This was an increase from 31 percent in October 2013.
Detention periods grow longer, especially in cases where those seeking asylum or those with family in Japan refuse to leave the country. Jonathan can only speak Japanese and feels like going to live in Colombia is not even an option.
Also, despite deportation orders, some countries refuse their citizens' return. Furthermore, the ministry expects individuals to bear the cost of repatriation, which if they refuse, lengthens their detention even more.
Unlike arrests and imprisonment, there is no legal limit nor a trial to determine how long an individual can be held. It is instead left to the immigration authorities' discretion.
Japanese immigration facilities have long been criticized in and outside the country for their lengthy detention periods.
The U.N. Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination rebuked Japan in an August report for detaining foreign nationals for indefinite periods.
In Europe which has been grappling with immigrant and refugee problems, the length of detention in immigration facilities is a hot political issue.
Under French law, a detainee who refuses repatriation is released if he or she reaches the legal maximum length of detention. But in August the French parliament approved extending the maximum length a detainee can be held to 90 days from 45 days.
In response, France terre d'asile, a pro-immigration organization, denounced the new longer detention period as "snatching away foreigners' freedom needlessly."
The European Union requests its member states to have detention periods of no longer than six months.
Koichi Kodama, a lawyer well-versed in immigration issues, said "To detain foreigners whose livelihoods are in Japan for years only because they are not legal residents goes against the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act."
"The immigration bureau for now should soften its position toward provisional releases and establish a limit on the length of detention in the mid- to long-term. It should also reform the system so that third parties such as courts can determine speedily and fairly the necessity for detentions," he said.
For now, Jonathan can only hope his situation will change for the better soon. Filled with anxiety for his future, he spends many sleepless nights.
"There is nothing to do except to eat and go to bed every day," he said.
Source:Japan Today