Girl chooses homeland in immigration case

TOKYO, April 13 (UPI) -- A 13-year-old girl says she chose to remain in Japan while her Filipino parents were deported since the country is her "homeland."

Noriko Calderon said while Japan's High Court ruled that her parents, Arlan and Sarah, must be deported to the Philippines, she decided to accept the government's offer to remain behind in the place of her birth, CNN said Monday.

"Japan is my homeland," the teenager said.

Calderon's parents, who illegally immigrated to Japan, expressed regret at their daughter's decision to remain in Japan with an aunt.

"We won't be there when she needs us the most," Arlan Calderon, 36, told CNN. "She has to protect herself on her own. I'm so sorry about that."

''I told her to take care of herself and make sure she doesn't catch a cold," Sarah Calderon, 38, said.

The Kyodo news agency said Arlan Calderon and his wife left Japan for the Philippines Monday from Narita airport.

The couple's daughter said she hopes to prove to her parents that her decision was the right choice.

"I hope I can show them the next time we meet that I do my best," the Saitama Prefecture junior high school student said.