Filipino family decides to leave Japanese-born daughter in Japan+

TOKYO, March 13 Kyodo -
A Filipino couple facing the threat of deportation have decided to leave their
13-year-old daughter behind in Japan and return to the Philippines following
advice from the immigration authority, the family's lawyer said Friday.
Arlan Calderon, 36, and his wife Sarah, 38, both undocumented, intend to leave
the country on April 13 and entrust their daughter Noriko, who was born and
raised in Japan, to the care of Sarah's sister who also lives in Japan, lawyer
Shogo Watanabe said.
''(Deciding to) go home was the only choice left for us,'' Arlan told a press
conference. He was released for the first time in four days after being
detained at the detention facility at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau on
Monday.
The family conveyed its decision to the immigration authority when the mother
and daughter reported to the bureau on Friday, according to the lawyer.
In light of the family's decision, the immigration authority issued a new
provisional release status for Arlan and extended the status for Sarah and
Noriko, both until April 14.
The justice ministry, meanwhile, revealed Friday that it intended to grant
Noriko, who only speaks Japanese and attends a junior high school in Warabi,
Saitama Prefecture, special permission for residence later this month so she
can continue to go to school in Japan.
''I am not happy at all,'' Noriko said, explaining that her true wish was to
stay in Japan with her parents.
Now with her parents set to leave in April, just days after Noriko begins her
second year at middle school on April 8, the girl will live with her aunt and
uncle who have agreed to move to Saitama Prefecture from Tokyo to take care of
her.
But never having lived without her parents, Noriko said she was ''full of
anxiety.''
Arlan, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to those who supported the family,
adding, ''We hope we'll be able to come back to Japan someday and live quietly
with just the three of us.''
Earlier this month, Justice Minister Eisuke Mori said that Japan would be
willing to grant short-term reentry permission to the girl's parents after they
leave the country.
In the event of deportation, the parents would normally not be allowed to
revisit Japan for five years due to the record of their illegal stay in the
country, while in the case of voluntary departure they would be barred for one
year.
But the justice minister suggested he would allow them to make short-term visits.
The decision for the Filipino family, which had long requested their entire
family be granted special permission for residence, was a difficult choice,
according to Watanabe.
''We talked over the family's possible decisions (for days) but it ended in
stalemate,'' the lawyer said.
''But the immigration authority made it clear they would not promise to grant
Noriko special permission unless her parents first revealed their intention to
leave Japan,'' Watanabe said, adding the family made the decision because they
''did not want to even risk the possibility of the detention of Noriko.''
''It was a tough decision,'' he added.
Meanwhile, an official at the Justice Ministry emphasized that the ministry did
everything it could do, saying it ''gave the utmost consideration to the extent
permitted by law.''
Arlan Calderon came to Japan in May 1993, a year after his wife. Both entered
the country using other people's passports and stayed undetected in Japan.
Their daughter was born in 1995.
The couple filed a lawsuit seeking nullification of the deportation order
against them, but the Supreme Court rejected their petition last September.
==Kyodo
2009-03-13 22:20:21