Our Voice Project #1

APFS has been running the "Family Together!" campaign since September this year to enable undocumented foreign families to live together in Japan. As part of this, we have started the "Project to Share Our Voices." The "we" in this case refer to the undocumented foreign residents themselves. As it is difficult for the general public to hear the voices of the undocumented foreign residents themselves, we want the general public to understand the situation they are in and how they feel.

The first child is a Peruvian child (currently a university student) who was born and raised in Japan. None of the family members had resident status, but the child and mother were later granted resident status, while the father was detained by immigration authorities for seven years and was granted resident status this spring, allowing the entire family to remain in Japan. APFS has been fighting alongside the family for those seven years. We asked the child to write about how he felt living in this kind of family.

"My feelings"
My nationality is the Republic of Peru. I was born in Japan and received the same education as my classmates here. My parents came to Japan more than 20 years ago to look for work. They overstayed their visas in Japan because they wanted to earn money to support their family in Peru.
In 2008, my mother was caught by immigration officials for overstaying her visa while at work. I was in elementary school at the time, and when I got home, I asked my relatives about it. My mother was given special permission to come home because I was a minor. I still remember my mother being taken out of the car and her arms tied with a rope. She hadn't killed anyone, but she was treated like a criminal and it was very painful. My mother and I loved Japan and had a strong desire to stay here, so we fought hard to be able to stay. We were told many times to go home, but we never gave up and kept trying until the end. Two years later, my mother and I were able to obtain visas to stay in Japan. For me, it was a very long and painful two years. However, in 2010, my father was caught by immigration officials next. He was put in an immigration detention facility because I was with my mother. He was ordered to be deported from the moment he was caught. However, my father wanted to stay in Japan for my future, and he told the immigration officials about his desperate desire to stay. Although he escaped deportation, my father was in a detention facility for a year. My mother and I went to see him frequently. My father was getting thinner day by day and he smiled less and less. It was very painful to be in front of my eyes but not be able to hug or touch him. My father was later granted provisional release and was able to live with his family, but he was unable to work and my mother worked late into the night every day. My father felt pathetic for being in an environment where he couldn't work and it became stressful for him.
My father was able to obtain a visa this spring. I'm really glad that the three of us fought together and didn't give up. It was very painful for me to wonder why we had to be treated like this when all we wanted was to work and study in Japan. There are still many people in Japan who are working hard for their families, but not everyone knows about them. There are still people who love Japan and want to live here, even though they are told terrible things and it's hard. I want to be a support for those people.