The plan, which was said to have been approved by Israel ruling cabinet last November came into force yesterday (Wednesday, 3rd January 2018).
Under the programme, some 38 000 migrants who entered Israel illegally, mainly Eritreans and Sudanese, will have until the end of March to leave.
Each will receive a plane ticket and $3 500 to do so. After the deadline, this amount will decrease and those who continue to refuse to go will face arrest.
Holot, an open facility in Israel’s desert south that can host 1 200 migrants who are allowed to leave to work during the day, is also set to be closed.
It currently holds 970 people, an interior ministry statement said earlier this week.
The Africans currently hold short-term residence visas which must be renewed every two months.
“From today when a person goes to request an extension to their visa, if he does not have a pending asylum application… his visa will not be renewed and he will be given a deportation order,” migrant aid worker Adi Drori-Avraham tells AFP.
She adds that under the new regulations there is also an option for the authorities “not even to threaten them with a choice of voluntary departure or jail, simply to seize them and take them to a plane“.
“At the moment there are exceptions for women, children, parents of children and victims of human trafficking, but the procedural rules make it clear that those exemptions are only temporary,” she adds.
For more on this report, visit the newa24 website.
Well they’re always welcome home.