Japan’s deportation drive strikes fear into asylum seekers, foreign residents

Japan’s tougher deportation drive is deepening fear among asylum seekers and long-term foreign residents, rights groups say, warning that the government’s push to remove more undocumented migrants is clashing with its duty to protect refugees.Official figures show a record 318 foreign nationals were forcibly deported from Japan under escort in 2025, up 30 per cent from a year earlier, as authorities ramped up the Zero Illegal Foreign Residents Plan (Zero Plan), a government drive launched last May to speed up removals and cut the number of undocumented foreign residents.Of that total, 52 had applied for refugee status in Japan three or more times, with the plan placing particular emphasis on removing people whose bids for recognition have been rejected multiple times.The plan reflects the harder line that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s conservative government is taking against undocumented immigrants, as well as a broader unease in some parts of Japanese society regarding outsiders who want to settle in the country and the growing number of tourists.An immigration centre in Nagasaki Prefecture. A record 318 foreign nationals were forcibly deported from Japan under escort in 2025. Photo: KyodoHuman rights groups, however, said the stepped-up deportations were striking fear into foreign nationals in Japan, including some who had lived in the country for decades and others who genuinely feared for their lives if they were sent back.