Thousands gathered here outside the National Diet building on the evening of June 5 to protest revisions to Japan’s immigration law, which had been set for a vote in a House of Councillors committee the following day.
The amendment was expected to clear the upper house’s Committee on Judicial Affairs on June 6, and demonstrators declared they were “absolutely against” what they called a forced vote to push through the ruling parties’ plan. The rally’s organizers, including the Anti-Poverty Network, estimated turnout at about 5,500. Kin of the late Wishma Sandamali, a Sri Lankan woman who died while detained in a Nagoya immigration facility in March 2021, were also present.
Wishma’s 30-year-old younger sister Wayomi commented about an Osaka immigration doctor who is suspected to have been drunk while inspecting detainees. “After my sister’s passing, the government declared the same type of problem would not reoccur. However, they betrayed our trust. Immigration Services Agency, please think about people’s lives.”
Under the revised law, foreign residents who have been denied refugee status two or more times can be deported even while a further application is pending, changing the current rule that prevents deportations of those seeking refugee status across the board.