16 Grant Amnesty to Irregular Migrants!

Annie lives with her child she had with her Japanese partner. Her child was born in Japan. Annie, who was born as the eldest daughter of a poor family in the Philippines had always wanted, since she was very young, to support her family when she grew up. The year she graduated from high school, she was told by someone in the neighborhood, that “there is work in Japan,” and so she came to this country. She continued to work at a restaurant even after her visa (residence status) expired, and that is where she met the man who became the father of her child. He had promised to marry Annie, but when he learned she was pregnant, he disappeared. Since then, Annie gave birth and raised her child alone. Because she had no residence status, she was not eligible for public assistance, and she had to leave her young child at home and work day and night. Meanwhile, she was always nervous of being found by the police, when she was working as well as when she was going out.

Foreigners living in Japan are required to have a residence status. But a residence status is not granted to everyone. It is determined by whether the applicant has a Japanese spouse, whether she/he is doing work that is authorized, etc. Someone who is taking care of a Japanese child, like Annie, is usually granted a residence status, but in her case, her partner did not acknowledge the child, so she did not get one.

▶ Irregular migrants living in Japan

People like Annie, who do not hold a valid residence status to live in Japan, are called “irregular migrants.” Among irregular migrants, it is estimated that as of 2021, there are approximately 83,000 people who have overstayed their residence status, or whose residence status has expired. Irregular migrants are often called “illegal migrants,” so there may be people who think that these people may be criminals. But not having a residence status, is not even remotely similar to crimes that involve hurting someone. That is why, in the United Nations and elsewhere, the term “irregular migrants” is used instead of “illegal migrants.”

It was from the second half of the 1980s to the early 1990s that the number of irregular migrants increased in Japan. Companies facing labor shortages during the bubble economy began hiring migrant workers. At first, many of them were irregular migrants. The number reached approximately 300,000 by 1993. At that time, the government and police ignored the existence of these irregular migrants, who were filling labor shortages in Japan. But in the mid-2000s, however, they were seen as the cause of the deterioration in safety and order, and a policy to cut the number of “illegal migrants” in half was implemented. On the other hand, Special Permission to Stay was actively granted, leading to a rapid decrease in the number of irregular migrants (Figure 10). This history is indicative of the opportunistic responses by the government and society towards irregular migrants.

▶ The rights of irregular migrants

The Immigration Bureau has the authority to detain irregular migrants as “illegals,” to deport them, and to grant them Special Permission to Stay (provision of a residence status). But irregular migrants have a life here, and have rights recognized in the fields of employment, health, and education. But because of their vulnerable position, it is not unusual for them not to be able to exercise these rights. There have been notable cases in which local governments and medical institutions have denied irregular migrants access to their rights, threatening to report them to the immigration authorities. However, any such reporting must be determined on a case by case basis, considering the administrative purpose in line with the Ministry of Justice’s Public Notice (Ministry of Justice No. 1671, issued November 17, 2003).

It is also necessary to actively promote the issuance of Special Permission to Stay for irregular migrants who have built social relationships and livelihoods in this country. As in the case of Annie and her child, each person wishing to live in Japan has her/his own reasons and circumstances. Even in the case of irregular migrants, just as with other migrants, human relationships will be formed, children will be born, and a basis for their lives will be built as their lives continue for some period in their places of destination. That place becomes their “home.” If this is the case, is it not extremely violent to forcibly remove them from their “home,” just because they do not have a residence status?

To recognize the right to stay for irregular migrants who live and work in Japan (regularization/amnesty) will be the first step in creating a society that “leaves no one behind.”