Osaka — An employee of the Justice Ministry's immigration center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, made a derogatory remark against a Chinese detainee, telling the man "it's fun to bully foreigners," officials at the facility said.
The derogatory remark came to light when a group supporting foreigners interviewed the Chinese man at the East Japan Immigration Control Center. The group filed a complaint with the center.
The center has apologized to the man, and the employee, whose job includes patrolling the center, has been transferred to another section, the officials said Thursday.
According to the center and the support group, the employee made the remark when he was talking to the man in Japanese in early August.
The man was allegedly involved in a criminal case and his visa status has been revoked.
The group said the man and other foreign detainees who shared a room with him complained to the center, but it took nearly a month for the center to apologize.
Meanwhile, the center stressed there was no physical bullying.
"The employee made the remark as a joke, but it was inappropriate," an official said.
The immigration facility currently has about 260 detainees who are applying for refugee status or who illegally stayed in Japan.
About 50 foreigners, including Pakistanis and Iranians, have been waging a hunger strike at the center since Tuesday because it has not responded to their request to speed up the application process for temporary release.