Immigration Control

During the last days of 2017, Ozzy and Chloe were separated from their mom at Narita airport after spending the night there. Their intentions were only to transfer to Japan from Malaysia to go to Canada in order to seek asylum. However, the three were stopped by immigration officers at their gate, in line to board the plane with the justification that they did not have the proper documents to enter Canada.

After having their passports taken away, the three Liberians were taken to an office and questioned about their arrival in Japan. Without any money to pay for a new flight back to Malaysia where their father stayed, Ozzy and her family claimed they were refugees and decided to ask for asylum then and there. While the mother was being interrogated, Ozzy, 13 years old at the time, played with her younger sister, Chloe, 3, and distracted herself on her phone: “It was just scary and I wanted it to be over because I was like, really done with the situation. I just wanted to go home or go somewhere.” Next thing she knows, immigration officers separate her and Chloe’s luggage from that of her mother and announced that they will be taken to different places. Her mother resisted at first, but immigration officers claimed they “can’t bring the children to where you are going because it’s not proper for them.” This is a peculiarity of asylum seekers traveling with family- they are separated and little is explained about what will happen next. All Ozzy knew at this point was that her mother would be locked up in a place unsuitable for children- the detention center. 

Without a proper understanding of what will happen to them next with the additional issue of the language barrier, Ozzy recalls going into a van with her little sister with two male immigration officers in the front seat. After a silent ride, they arrive after dark to where they would stay for the next two months. As Ozzy understood it, this facility was a place for orphans and children whose parents were abusive or unable to take care of them. 

Life Inside the Facility Walls

1. Responsibilities as an Older Sister

Arriving at the child facility in Chiba at night, Ozzy recalls having her clothes changed and going straight to bed. Not only separated by gender but the bedrooms in the facility were also defined by age. Being 10 years older than Chloe meant that the sisters could not be in the same room. At this moment, Ozzy had been separated from her whole family: saying goodbye to her older brother in Ghana some weeks before, leaving her father in Malaysia days before, and being separated from her mother at Narita airport as well as Chloe at the facility on the same day. She found herself in a place where she knew no one and could not communicate with anyone either. Moreover, by being separated from her mother, taking care of Chloe suddenly became her responsibility thus making her feel vulnerable to more than just herself. From simple tasks such as fixing Chloe’s hair (no one in the facility was accustomed to African hair) to supporting her sister’s sadness towards the separation of her mother, Ozzy needed to get used to a new relationship with her sister as well as the new role she gave to herself. She put her sister first, becoming the support system of her family.

Specifically in the clip on the left, Ozzy expresses the feeling of letting her sister down, showing difficulty in coping with Chloe’s pain in addition to her own. Knowing that her baby sister was not eating, hearing her cry but not being able to be with her by facility rule put Ozzy in a conflict between following those in authority or comforting her sister. Leaving her hometown and separating from her usual family structure of 5 meant new pressures for her as the elder daughter. However, differently from this change, going to a facility in Japan was unprecedented and very sudden:  “I was worried about what would happen, I hoped nothing would go wrong which it did go wrong, horribly wrong.” Rather than seeking asylum in Canada where people at least speak English, she found herself in Japan, unable to communicate, in a facility far away from her missing mother. Usually being able to find comfort in her parents, Ozzy became the source of comfort for 3-year-old Chloe and Ozzy knew that. 

As time passed, another moment in which Ozzy strongly took on her role as an older sister was when the two visited their mom at the detention center. After a month without speaking to her mother, Ozzy was able to see her for 20 minutes at the detention center. “up until then I was asking the social worker to let us see our mom and she managed to get us a one-on-one for one time.” In reaction to the separation, Ozzy manages the system by repeatedly asking her social worker to speak to her mother. She looks out for her whole family and focuses on bringing them back together somehow. Ozzy and Chloe’s circumstances were very different from that of the other children at the facility and the system took time in processing their needs. Rules and regulations were not made for asylum seeker families and children refugees, who differently from most other children in the facility, are not orphans and can be taken care of by their parents if given the resources. This explains the lack of information given to Ozzy about where her mother was and when she would be able to talk to or see her. When hearing the news about their re-encounter, under the happiness Ozzy could not help but feel worried about her little sister.

Differently from regular visits where detainees and visitors are separated by a glass wall, Ozzy and Chloe met their mother in a special family room, being able to touch and hug each other: “just a room with like desks and chairs, kind of like an interview room.” With two officers in the room and the social worker discussing legal issues with their mother, spending time together was nothing like before Japan. Nevertheless, their mother prepared a surprise for them that Ozzy recalls even amongst the commotion at the immigration center, and the excitement of finally seeing her. Ozzy and Chloe received snacks given to them by their mother, who despite being low on money, bought them a treat from the convenience store. She also has a strong memory of being told by the guards to leave after what felt like no time and consoling her baby sister who did not understand why she was being separated from her mother again. Although she also felt the situation was unfair, Ozzy continued optimistic about Chloe’s well-being while holding her as she cried in the car on the trip back to Chiba. 

2. Adaptation

As the only foreigners in the facility, adaptation was very challenging for the 13 and 3-year-olds: “The first month was extremely hard because the kids there weren’t used to foreigners and we weren’t used to living with Japanese people so the custom was extremely hard to get used to.” Similar to the detention center, inside this facility children have strict schedules they follow: being woken up at 6AM, with specific times to eat, study, play, or watch TV. All children are also dressed in facility clothes rather than their own, as belongings are kept outside their rooms. Being home-schooled for most of her life, fitting into a strict schedule was difficult for Ozzy, and not being able to communicate with others did not help. She found difficulty questioning any rule or showing her opinion for a custom-  she followed them unconditionally, imagining that causing as little trouble as possible could take her back to her mom faster.

The only person she was open and able to speak to in English was her social worker and her therapist- each child is assigned to two social workers and one therapist for check-ups and questions concerning their parents. Ozzy is grateful for this system and took the time with her professionals seriously. Each child is given a diary in which they write their feelings and wishes, working as a base for the therapy sessions. Although Ozzy remembers taking her time to write down her reflections, she was not allowed to take this diary home when she left: “I wanted to show my mom everything but they kept it.” Nevertheless, she liked her therapist and enjoyed time with her: “She was really kind. She was also learning English. Like she knew English but she was losing it so we would occasionally just talk in English.”

After around a month and 2 weeks, “which felt like forever,” Ozzy’s mother was released from detention and picked the girls up from the Chiba facility. 

The news was very unexpected for Ozzy, who was meeting her social worker to request new things for her stay in the facility. Little did she know her mom had found a home for them in Tokyo and they would be together once again, without the surveillance of the immigration officers. However, despite the happiness this brought to the family of three, the experience of separation from the past weeks affected them even after the kids left the facility. Integration and adaptation were difficult, and despite having her mom present, Ozzy continued to take on the role of comforting her baby sister: “being here my mom isn’t like really happy so at times I have to deal with Chloe and you know, calm her down, like give her what she needs.” For a moment, life revolved around immigration- applying for refugee status, understanding the rules of Karihoumen, and finding ways to navigate these rules and sustain a family of three. Taking care of Chloe is one thing that Ozzy knew she could do and was good at, especially after the experience at the facility. However, the older sister recalls Chloe having a hard time post-facility, such as having nightmares often and stuttering problems as she was learning how to speak, and continues showing instances of “fear of detachment.”