- Tweeter
republish
Israeli authorities on Thursday (November 7th) arrested a family of migrant workers threatened with deportation. The parents, from India, as well as their two children are currently in prison.
With our correspondent in Jerusalem , Guilhem Delteil
It was early Thursday morning that immigration inspectors came to the home of the Lopez family in southern Tel Aviv. Both parents arrived in Israel twelve years ago to work as nurses. Their two children are born in the country. But the family no longer has a residence permit and is threatened with expulsion.
The Israeli system is very restrictive in granting residence permits for foreigners and the case of Lopez is not isolated. 60,000 foreign workers, mainly from Asia, currently live in the country. But Israel does not want this population to settle permanently: most residence permits are limited to five years and specify that in case of birth of a child, the visa will be revoked if the newborn is not sent to his country.
But because of more favorable living conditions, some people choose to remain illegally: according to the United Children of Israel, 600 families would be threatened with deportation.
In fact, the Israeli authorities turned a blind eye to their presence. But since this summer, 17 children from eleven families have been arrested. For the organizations defending immigrant workers, there is a repression launched by the government. But only a child and his mother were deported. The others were released, justice promoting the interest of the children.