TEL AVIV – The Israeli government has issued a notice for thousands of African migrants to leave the country or face imprisonment in clear violation of international and local laws.
The migrants will be given up to $3,500 (£2,600) for leaving within the next 90 days.
They will be given the option of going to their home country or third countries, the BBC reported on Wednesday. Children, elderly people, and victims of slavery and human trafficking are exempt from the order.
If they do not leave, the Israeli authorities have threatened that they will start jailing them from April.
Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority told the BBC there are 38,000 migrants who entered the country illegally including 1,420 being held in detention facilities.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi criticized the plan.
“The Israeli government’s decision to expel 40,000 African asylum seekers is of great concern,” he said. “Israel has a painful history of migration and exile. New generations must not forget that refugees do not flee out of choice but because they don’t have any other choice.”
People from Eritrea and Sudan make up a significant number of migrants in Israel.
Israel, which is itself an illegal state, uses the term “infiltrators” to describe people who did not enter the country through an official border crossing.
