Sankei Shimbun article
According to the Sankei Shimbun article on June 20, 2024, the overall history of the Kurdish is as follows.
- Came to Japan from Turkey in 2013 using short-term visa exemption measures.
- In July last year, while he was applying for refugee status for the second time, he was involved in a fight between Kurds and arrested along with six others on suspicion of attempted murder.
- In September, the Saitama District Public Prosecutors Office decided not to prosecute all seven men, and in November they were ordered to be deported and voluntarily returned to their home countries.
- On May 9th of this year, a Japanese lawyer supporting the man submitted a request to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau (Tokyo Immigration Bureau) requesting landing permission for the man, and on the same day the man arrived at Haneda Airport with visa exempted.
- The request stated, “He would like to have his right arm injured in the attempted murder treated and rehabilitated in Japan, pay the unpaid hospital bill of 2 million yen”. The period of stay was set at one month, but the actual amount of money in hand was only 7,000 yen. So Tokyo Immigration Bureau refused his landing.
- The man laid on the floor and shouted things like “I don’t want to go home” and “Call an ambulance”, so he was taken to the immigration facility at Haneda Airport.
- Furthermore, because the man refused to eat while in the facility and developed symptoms of dehydration and hypoglycemia, the Tokyo Immigration Bureau decided to temporarily release him from the facility, and he was able to live again in Kawaguchi City.
- When the Tokyo Immigration Bureau contacted the hospital, the reply was that no treatment was necessary, so it was decided to proceed with deportation procedures again.
- On the 5th of this month, he appeared at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau as a mandatory procedure for those granted provisional release. He was told on the spot that he would be deported and was put on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul the same evening and deported. He was accompanied by an immigration control officer, and the several million yen cost of returning home was covered by government funds funded by taxes.
Why was the deportation imposed?
I was concerned about the voluntary return to Japan after being deported, as mentioned in the third point above. Since the applicant was applying for refugee recognition and had not been prosecuted in court, deportation proceedings should not have started. (By the way, the revised law that has been in effect since June of this year that makes applicants subject to deportation after their third application for refugee recognition has not yet been enforced.)
I have not yet found the contents of the request letter submitted by the lawyer requesting landing permission for the man, so I cannot say anything about it, but according to the status of the Kurdish people living around Kawaguchi, there are Kurdish people receive deportation orders due to the failures to comply with “the leaving orders” (based on Article 24, Item 5-2 of the Immigration Control Act) , even they have been granted provisional release and under the processes of applications for refugees.
I understand that a leaving order is issued at the time of entry if the grounds for refusal of landing apply. So I assume the background of starting deporting procedures are as followings;
- When he entered Japan in 2013, he was given a leaving order due to grounds for refusal of landing.
- He was kept at a facility near the airport.
- Application for provisional release was approved.
- He then applied for refugee status.
- In November 2023, the case decided not to prosecute him, and although he was applying for refugee status (for the second time), a deportation order was issued for his failure to comply with the 2013 leaving order.
If the above is correct, wait a moment.
The amendment to the Immigration Control Act that went into effect this month, which excludes people from exception of deportation if they are applying for refugee recognition for the third time or more, is intended to prevent abuse of the refugee recognition system to encourage illegal entry or illegal overstay. (Prior to the enforcement, it was believed that if he/she was applying for refugee recognition, he/she would not be deported, no matter how many times he/she applied.)
However, if something like this case were to occur, as long as a “leaving order” is issued at the time of entry, even if a person applies for refugee recognition for the first or second time, he or she can be subject to deportation proceedings.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’ll look into it a little more and update this article.
Landing refusal
Now, let’s talk about the man who was refused landing on May 9th of this year.
There is a ground for denial of landing, which states that a foreign national cannot enter the country for five years from the date of deportation (Article 5-2 of the Immigration Control Act). But I assume that the special exception was once approved for humanitarian reasons by the request from the lawyer.
And, the reason why he was finally refused landing was probably that he did not meet the criteria for landing permission at the immigration inspection, which is that activities that the person intends to carry out in our country must not be fake.
Countermeasure: What about exclusion from visa exempt countries
Regardless of doubts as to whether the initial deportation was legal, if cases like the one described in the article are to occur more frequently in the future, it will be a major problem from the immigration administration’s perspective.
This article concludes, “A senior official of the Immigration Services Agency said, the fundamental problem is the visa exemption measures with Turkey, which allows foreigners who were involved in crimes to come to Japan easily”.
The suspension of visa exemptions clearly helps. This is because airlines will not allow passengers traveling to destinations that require a visa to fly. (Because airline companies are obligated to repatriate travelers who are refused landing at their destination)
Introducing the Japanese version of ESTA
However, it is questionable whether visa exemption measures can be suspended for Turkey based solely on the issue of the Kurds, who are an ethnic minority in Turkey. In the midst of all this, I recently came across an article titled “Japan to launch online travel authorization system for visitors” (2024/06/21 Japan Times)”.
I believe that the Japanese version of ESTA is a very effective alternative to the suspension of visa exemption measures.
Conclusion
This post has become very long. I believe that this case is a model case that includes many issues related to immigration law.