Israel launched a voluntary exit operation for Filipino families and their children currently residing in the Middle East country illegally offering voluntary departure in return for a grant of $5,000 in over one year.
The Population and Immigration Authority made an announcement on Friday (July 1).
A similar policy will also be instituted for citizens from Eritrea and Sudan and this comes over a decade after a similar attempt was made to expel families of Filipino citizens, mostly mothers with their children, from Israel, but the operation provoked strong public opposition and ultimately failed.
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The program, in full cooperation with the Philippine government and the Philippine Embassy in Israel, is aimed at families with children to leave the Jewish state and the families wishing to leave the country can contact a special center that will carry out the procedure for them.
According to Tomer Moskowitz, the director of the Population and Immigration Authority, “most of the illegal immigrants entered as tourists, Eritreans, and Sudanese,” adding that they were working on another voluntary exit operation for nationals staying here, “details of which will be released in the near future.”
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According to official data, 30,000 illegal immigrants resided in Israel in 2020 most of whom entered the country as tourists, Eritreans and Sudanese.
In January 2018, a similar agreement was approved by the Israeli government to deport illegal immigrants to a to a third country, Rwanda, with a grant of 3,500 dollars and Kigali was to receive an additional 5,000 dollars for each person received, but the plan did not materialize due to European pressure on the Rwandan presidency, and the deal fell apart.
