High Court Bats Down Knesset Migrant Law for Third Time

Israel’s High Court for the third time blocked a law passed by the Knesset to regulate treatment of illegal migrants, Arutz Sheva reported on Thursday.

The Court issued a temporary order preventing the implementation of a bill watered down to satisfy the judges, and the state will have to respond within ten days.

In the meantime, illegal infiltrators will be not brought to the Holot open detention facility in the Negev, nor will they be transferred to the Saharonim closed facility, as the law currently provides.

According to the latest version of the migrant policy, migrants were to be held for three months at Saharonim, and then transferred to Holot for up to 20 additional months.

NGO Israeli Immigration Policy Center’s director Orli Yogir slammed the ruling, saying “this is an awful decision. The temporary order that the High Court issued harms the Israeli democratic foundation and leaves the state of Israel without the ability to defend its sovereignty from illegal immigration.

“Those who will pay the price of this abandonment are citizens of the state of Israel, and residents of southern Tel Aviv in particular,” noted Yogir.

Reports indicate that the detention policy has led to a significant drop in crime in Tel Aviv.

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the December 19th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.