A 15-year-old Kurdish boy faces a precarious future as lawmakers started full-scale discussions on speeding up deportations of foreign nationals illegally staying in Japan.

The boy, who was born in Japan, lives with his parents and two brothers in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture. They do not have a status of residence and are on provisional release.

His family is waiting for a decision on its fourth application for refugee status.

Before the boy entered a high school this spring, a friend suggested visiting the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo together.

But he declined because traveling out of the prefecture requires permission from immigration authorities.

“I want to lead a normal life,” the boy said.

Deliberations on a bill to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law began at the Lower House Committee on Judicial Affairs on April 18. If enacted, the revised law will allow immigration authorities to deport those seeking refugee status after two rejections of their applications.

Currently, deportation orders are suspended if applications for refugee status are pending.

Proponents of the legal revisions say the current system is being abused by foreign nationals to stay in the country and creating a logjam of applications.

Many children appear to be in the same boat as the Kawaguchi teenager.

According to the Justice Ministry, 4,233 foreign nationals who received deportation orders were staying in Japan as of the end of 2022, including 201 who were born in Japan and are under 18 years old.

Of the 201 children, 79 were between 7 and 12 years old, and 40 were between 13 and 15.

Most of those foreign nationals have been granted a provisional release and live outside of immigration facilities.

Children can attend schools, but they are not allowed to work part-time or freely move out of the prefecture where they live.

The father of the Kurdish boy arrived in Japan from Turkey in 2004.

He said he faces persecution if he returns because his elder brother belonged to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a separatist armed organization.

The father said he suffered violence by police officers while he was in Turkey, including being stripped of his clothes before an interrogation at an airport when he left the country.

The boy’s parents and elder brother have Turkish citizenship, but the boy and his younger brother are without nationality. The family members communicate in Japanese.

The elder brother, who attends a university, came to Japan with his mother when he was 2 years old. He said he does not remember “even an inch” about Turkey.

Every time he reports to an immigration office to renew his provisional release status, he is told to return to Turkey. He replies that he has no intention to do so.

The boy’s mother is concerned about the family’s future.

“Where in the world can my sons, who were born and brought up in Japan, return?” she asked.

The proposed legal changes are also expected to affect the lives of those seeking “special permission to stay in Japan” for family circumstances and other reasons.

The government plans to review guidelines for granting such permission in accordance with the revised law.

A junior high school student, 13, who lives in the northern part of the Kanto region, was born in Japan to his Bangladeshi parents.

The family received a deportation order in 2013 and was not granted special permission to stay in Japan. The parents, the boy and a 5-year-old brother are all on provisional release.

The father, who is suffering from ulcerative colitis, a chronic disease of the large intestine, said he cannot return to Bangladesh because decent medical treatment is not available there.

The boy likes to study and belongs to the table tennis club at his school. His dream is to become an automobile designer.

He is not good at communicating in Bengalese, his parents’ native tongue.

“There is no place in Bangladesh where I can return,” he said in fluent Japanese. “I want to stay in Japan with my family members and go on to high school and university to continue my studies.”

The parents, who rely on supporters for food and live in a rented warehouse, said they want to work harder to make their children’s dreams come true.

Eriko Suzuki, a professor of sociology at Kokushikan University who is familiar with immigration policies, is opposed to the proposed changes to the law.

She said there are instances where immigration officials give two choices to those not complying with deportation orders once their children grow up: granting special permission to stay in Japan only to the children or having all family members return to their home countries.

“It is extremely cruel to demand a decision by taking children hostage,” she said. “The government must ensure that all family members live with peace of mind by giving due consideration to their human rights.”

(This article was written by Kosuke Tauchi and Ari Hirayama.)