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ZWC_yamada 
Since the "100-Day Action" which began on February 1, 2009, APFS has been requesting the Minister of Justice to grant permission for 22 families who are illegally residing in Japan to remain in the country. These families have already been issued deportation orders, but they have serious reasons why they cannot return to Japan, such as having established their lives in Japan and having children born and attending elementary and junior high school in Japan.
Between July and September 2009, a series of incidents occurred in which fathers of families who were in court seeking the cancellation of deportation orders or who had applied for refugee status were denied renewal of their provisional release and were subsequently re-detained.
In order to prevent the situation from becoming more serious, we submitted a request to the Ministry of Justice and the Tokyo Immigration Bureau on December 22, 2009. The request consisted of two main points.
1) We would like special permission to stay to be granted to "parents who are caring for and raising children aged 10 or older who are elementary or junior high school students," which is cited as a positive factor in the "Guidelines for Special Permission to Stay" (revised by the Immigration Bureau in July 2009).
2) We request that the father, who was detained between July and September, be granted provisional release as soon as possible and returned to his family.
During the protest in front of the immigration office, many children were in tears as they sent messages to their fathers who are being held in facilities. They urgently need to be granted provisional release.
On December 24, 2009, some wonderful news arrived. Of the 22 families, one family from China was granted special permission to reside in Japan. Since then, families from Iran and the Philippines have also been granted permission to reside in Japan, and as of February 28, five families have obtained special permission to reside in Japan (however, one of the 22 families has already been deported at government expense).
There isn't much time left for the remaining 16 families. This is a critical moment to see whether or not their residency will be granted. We will unite once again to seek their residency. We ask for your continued cooperation and support.