## Article: At the front line of immigration control administration (voice of an immigration control officer in charge of deportation) (Detention and Deportation Department, Yokohama District Immigration Office, Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau: Shuya Saito)

With the aim of having Japan become a tourism-oriented country, the Japanese government has been broadly publicizing Japan’s charms in order to attract a greater number of foreign visitors to Japan, and the number of foreign nationals visiting Japan has been increasing.

On the other hand, along with this increase in the number of foreign visitors, the risk of foreign nationals, who are not welcome in Japan, attempting to enter Japan is likely to increase, and therefore, it is important for us to protect our high standard of security, which is one of the treasures of our country.

As an immigration control officer, I engage in the work of deporting those foreign nationals who are determined to be unwelcome in Japanese society and whose disposition on deportation has been finalized upon the issuance of a written deportation order.

Specifically, with regard to such foreign nationals,

once the necessary requirements for their deportation

have been met, we escort them to the airport, have them board a plane and confirm their departure. The necessary requirements for their deportation include a valid passport, a plane ticket (or expenses thereof) and their baggage, and in cases where they do not possess a valid passport, we sometimes go in their place to the embassy of their country of nationality and apply for the issuance of a passport.

However, not all people want to return to their home countries and some foreign nationals refuse to return. Some are worried about going back to their home countries or feel anxious about life back home following deportation, and therefore, even in situations where I have to persuade them to go back to their home country, I try to carefully listen to them and to ease their fears. Obviously we are in different positions, since the foreign national is anxious about being deported and I am an officer in charge of deportation, but when I have contact with them, I try to create a friendly atmosphere by chatting to them on occasion about other things and engaging in small talk.

As far as possible, we try to persuade the foreign nationals to comply with the deportation, but in cases where they still refuse, we escort them to the destination country of deportation and hand them directly over to the government officers of that country. In addition, we sometimes conduct group deportations of a large number of foreign nationals using a chartered flight.

Deportation is one of the final steps of the deportation procedures determined after going through a number of procedures such as an investigation into the violation and an examination of the violation, and the deportation procedures will not be complete until the deportation has been realized. Until the written deportation order has been issued, a large number of immigration control officers and immigration inspectors are involved and in some cases a number of difficulties may arise. I am committed to carrying out my work in the future without forgetting the fact that the toil of various officers is involved in the process up until the deportation.