With the number of the new coronavirus cases increasing, the Japanese Lawyers Network for Refugees and two other groups issued on April 7 an emergency statement asking for a temporary release of foreign nationals detained in facilities of the Immigration Service Agency until the end of the pandemic. The groups’ aim is to prevent clusters from forming in immigration detention facilities, where a single room often accommodates several foreigners without visa status. Some facilities have more than 100 residents. In light of positive cases detected at a police station in Tokyo and Osaka detention house, the groups point out that it would be hard to deal with an infection that started inside the immigration detention facilities.