Regarding the July 1 article "Visa overstayers given too many breaks: rightist": The views of Daisuke Arikado are disturbing to say the least. They are sardonic, cynical and self-serving. To start with, instead of a highhanded name such as the Movement to Eradicate Crimes by Foreigners, why doesn't he call (the nonprofit organization that he heads) the Movement to Eradicate Crime, or the Movement to Eradicate Crime Syndicates?

Where are his sources on the number of crimes committed by undocumented persons, and what is their statistical proportion to crimes committed by documented persons or Japanese nationals? He appears to be intentionally targeting a powerless population that is already open to exploitation with little protection. Most illegal residents are involved in menial labor or the sex industry and have very little chance of more advancement. They are for the most part caring human beings who happen to be at the low end of the totem pole.

The Justice Ministry's plan to consolidate all foreign residents' information is just the latest step in big brother control — illegal when applied to Japanese Nationals — and is very unlikely to achieve its stated intention of having overstayers turn themselves in. Furthermore, if the government's precedents are any indication, it will not likely issue a massive number of special permits to those who do. Legal residents will be more inconvenienced by such measures, but illegal ones surely will head underground and face even more exploitation, hardship and lose the local services they now have.

tim zandbergen