Japan Press Weekly

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2023 June 7 - 13 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Immigration Agency sets numerical targets for deportation

It was revealed that the Immigration Agency sets numerical targets to send "overstaying" foreigners back to their own countries, and that a medical doctor attached to the Osaka Immigration Burau had provided medical care while under the influence of alcohol.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Nihi Sohei held a press conference in the Diet building on June 6 and made public two internal documents of the Immigration Agency he had obtained through Akahata.

One document shows that the agency had a "goal" to reduce "deportation dodgers" by 456 in fiscal 2022.

Nihi pointed out, "The agency in a Diet response said, 'The setting of targets has not been made due to the COVID-19 pandemic since fiscal 2020'." He criticized the agency's stance for intending to achieve its numerical targets without considering individual asylum-seekers' situations.

Nihi also criticized that in Diet debates on a revision bill on the Immigration Control Act, the Minister of Justice responsible for immigration covered up the allegation of medical care under the influence of alcohol which occurred in January. He demanded that the government-sponsored bill to adversely revise the law be fully debated and scrapped.