A 13 year old Japanese girl chooses to stay in Japan even though both of her parents are being deported back to the Phillipines. They tried to fight the system, but Japan refused to relent. People say that the girl should have her parents, but Japan says that allowing the parents to stay undermines the core purpose of their immigration laws.
A one on one case would be one thing, but there are over 500 cases like this in Japan. Realistically creating such a loophole would allow persons who knowingly entered the country illegally, like the above stated parents, to have children in a country in order to circumvent the law. Not a good practice in my opinion.
The true tragedy in this case is that the girl does not know how to speak her parents native language. The parents could have been caught and deported at any time but they chose, like they chose to live in Japan without following proper channels, to not share their culture with their child. They also chose to give their daughter the choice to stay or to go back with them.
The United States received a lot of flack not too long ago with a similar case of a teenage girl whose parents were deported back to Central America. It happens.
The people that wish to circumvent the law know that there are consequences. Those that also have children when they live in a country illegally have to know that the child is not a free pass into the country.
I do feel for people that leave a country they feel cannot provide for them sufficiently. I understand the need and desire to want to succeed. I also know that there are several reasons why we cannot just turn a blind eye to those people that come into the country illegally and think they are above our laws and restrictions. I do not care if they are here for 10 months or 10 years - knowingly doing something wrong has consequences when you are caught. To those that are in a country illegally I say: "No one forced you to take a job and make a life in a country where you entered without following proper channels. Take your medicine."
I feel badly for the girl, don't get me wrong. It isn't fair that she is living without her parents, and the choice she made may be the right one for her. In my particular case my child would not have that option as I would never leave my children behind. Of course I never would have placed my children in that type of scenario to begin with.
1 comment:
Patsy,
That's my sentiment, just don't place your children in that situation to begin with.
Speaking on the case in Japan, the parents had (at least) 13 years to go through the proper process for legal residency. So what happened?
It's sad the families are being torn apart, but I'm hesitant to place blame on the government for simply upholding the law.
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