Eased rules eyed for illegal aliens

Je suis sur que beaucoup d'entre vous on entendu parler du cas. Cet article
est paru dans la version anglaise du journal Asahi, mais les articles sont
en general retires dans la journee, c'est pourquoi je me permet de le copier
ici.

Le groupe qui soutient ces 21 etrangers a un site mais je ne retrouve pas la
reference. Des que je l'ai je l'envoie ici.

Sincerement,

Jean Christophe Helary

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Eased rules eyed for illegal aliens

The Justice Ministry plans to give special residence permits for those who
have raised children in Japan.

Asahi Shimbun

Justice Minister Hideo Usui will ease the criteria for granting special
residence permits to foreigners who have overstayed their visas, ministry
sources said Wednesday.

The decision stems from the Justice Ministry's review on the cases of 21
foreigners and their families who have been residing illegally in Japan.
They filed petitions last September with immigration authorities, seeking
the special residence permits.

The ministry will likely change its policies and grant the permits to those
who have raised children in Japan and find it difficult to move back to
their native country, the sources said.

Granting such permits falls under the authority of the justice minister. The
ministry has not disclosed the current requirements for the permits because
officials judge each case according to the situation, the sources said.

So far, the permits have only been issued to overstayers who are married to
Japanese, or those who are looking after children born with a Japanese
partner.

The only exception has been people who came to Japan from the Korean
Peninsula just after the end of the World War II.

The 21 foreigners, many of whom are Iranian, turned themselves in at an
immigration bureau despite the risk of deportation. They said that they
could not return to their homeland because their children have been brought
up in Japan. Others said they have illnesses that can only be treated here.

None of the foreigners met the ministry's traditional criteria for the
special permits, the sources said.

The ministry will likely change its policies for the first time to grant the
permits for foreigners whose children attend Japanese schools, the sources
said.

The ministry has been reluctant to change its stance on fears that eased
restrictions would encourage others to reside here illegally.

Critics have argued that illegal immigrants are not given the human rights
they deserve even though they are used as cheap labor.