Israel Tells High Court Two Countries Agree to Take Migrants

YERUSHALAYIM

Further progress has been made in solving the problem of illegal migrants, a state representative told Israel’s High Court on Tuesday, disclosing that two countries have agreed to take in the African migrants, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The disclosure came during a hearing on the constitutionality of the country’s migrant policy which authorizes indefinite detention of asylum seekers.

The state would not reveal which countries were involved, nor what Israel was promising them in return for their cooperation. Other states are also agreeing to permit the migrants safe transit through their territory to their final destinations.

The policy is working, it was reported, as over 3,000 migrants have agreed to accept an incentive package and voluntarily leave Israel. The recently completed security fence on the the Egyptian border has also been effective in preventing further illegal infiltration.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) is seeking to have the detention law revoked, accusing the government of inhumane treatment of the migrants.

Prior to the hearing, it charged in a statement: “Some 1,500 asylum seekers are currently being detained indefinitely in Holot. Although they’re allowed to leave the facility for a number of hours between morning and afternoon count-off, and between afternoon and evening count-off, because of the facility’s remote location, the asylum-seekers are effectively confined to the Holot grounds. The purpose of the law is to break the asylum seekers’ spirit and coerce detainees into giving their ‘consent’ to their removal so that the government can boast that it does not deport them, but rather simply assists them to leave ‘voluntarily.’”

The Holot detention center was created after months of angry protests by Israelis in south Tel Aviv and other cities where tens of thousands of illegal migrants have concentrated. Crime rates and other social problems have increased.

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