Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2025 December 24 - 2026 January 6 [POLITICS]

Stop ‘zero irregular migrants plan’ which promotes discrimination against foreigners

Akahata editorial

The LDP-Ishin government led by Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, amid deepening deadlocks in its foreign policy and domestic economic conditions, is directing public discontent over their economic hardship toward foreigners. It is advancing policies that are hostile to foreigners, steering the general public to embrace xenophobia.

In November of 2025, the Takaichi government established a ministerial council on the acceptance of foreign nationals and issued a Prime Minister’s directive titled “Realization of a Society of Well-Ordered and Harmonious Coexistence”. While touting “coexistence”, this directive strengthens the exclusion of and control over foreign residents.

The directive requires relevant ministries and agencies to: vigorously promote the “Zero Illegal Foreign Residents Plan for the Safety and Security of People in Japan”; tighten examination procedures for residence permits and naturalization; review social security and support programs for international students and student-visa holders; and strengthen countermeasures against crimes committed by non-Japanese nationals.

Although the directive claims to distinguish itself from outright xenophobia, it targets and excludes not individuals but “foreigners” as a collective group.

Inhumane forced repatriation

The government intentionally mixes badly-behaved tourists with applicants for refugee status. Furthermore, it persistently claims that “the safety and security of people in Japan is threatened by foreign nationals who do not follow the rules.” Consequently, it formulated the Zero Plan in May 2025, which aims to restrict the overall volume of asylum applications, speed up the screening process, and accelerate involuntary repatriation.

Since the introduction of the Zero Plan, forced deportations have occurred in succession, including cases where children raised in Japan were deported and families were separated. The children at a rally outside the Diet building pleaded, “Please, protect our lives.”

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councillors Nihi Sohei in the Diet criticized the Zero Plan for unfairly rejecting applications for refugee status and special residency permits. He went on to criticize the plan for labelling foreigners under temporary release and irregular migrants as “illegal overstayers” which fuels discrimination and prejudice against them. He demanded that the inhumane plan focusing solely on deportation be abolished.

Nihi took up the issue of unfair practice in the refugee recognition process. He said that in the process, refugee status applicants have little opportunity to make oral statements when filing complaints against the denial of their applications, which constitutes a human rights violation. The need is to change the current immigration and refugee administration to one abiding by the UN Refugee Convention.

Address human rights violations

In Saitama Prefecture, discrimination against Kurdish people has escalated and the act of spreading disinformation and making discriminatory remarks by politicians shows no signs of abating. However, both the directive and the ministerial council, while emphasizing “public anxiety regarding foreign nationals”, do not mention anything about anti-foreigner discrimination and hate speech.

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations in its statement stressed, “The plan claims “to carry out the ‘deportation of dangerous foreign nationals who are a threat to the safety and security of Japanese citizens.’ However, in reality, it is highly likely that the Plan will infringe on the human rights of those who pose no such threat and should be protected, which constitutes a violation of international human rights law.”

Non-Japanese nationals on provisional release are not entitled to enroll in the public health insurance program and are not permitted to work. Ignoring these vulnerable people’s dignity and solidifying the prejudice that undocumented migrants worsen public safety constitute infringement of basic human rights. Policies that promote distrust of and discrimination against specific groups such as the Kurds are absolutely unacceptable.

It is necessary to study and learn from various initiatives taken across the country and to establish an educational infrastructure and mechanisms for dialogue and exchange that aim to respect differences in nationality and culture. Let us build a domestic human rights institution designed to fairly examine applications for refugee recognition and other residency statuses, and create an inclusive society where Japanese and non-Japanese people live together in harmony.

Past related article:
> JCP Nihi demands that asylum-seekers’ screening procedures be properly conducted [November 24, 2025]