1,500 Eritrean and Sudanese economic migrants will leave Israel willingly in February

Eritrean, Sudanese and Ethiopian migrants in Tel Aviv, Israel

1,500 Eritrean and Sudanese economic migrants will leave Israel willingly in February


An estimated 1,500 Eritrean and Sudanese economic migrants will leave Israel willingly in February, according to the TimesofIsrael news agency, citing the Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

“The increase in the number of [departing] infiltrators we have witnessed each month is dramatic,” Saar said, while touring the center in Eilat where migrants register for their exit. “In December — 325 infiltrators; in January the number rose to 765 infiltrators who left voluntarily; and as stated, we are expecting to double the number of people who departed voluntarily in January.”

According to Israeli figures, a total of 2,612 migrants willfully left Israel in 2013, of these 1,955 were from Sudan and 461 from Eritrea.

Despite claims that these migrants returning home would be arrested, tortured and even killed by UNHCR and Human Rights officials, the Israeli government says organizations who visited Eritrea found they were safe and not arrested.

"Organizations that visited Eritrea to check if the people who returned were safe reported that these individuals had not been arrested." Sa’ar said.

Eritrean economic migrants first began to migrate to Israel after Israeli officials adopted a politically motivated six-month work visa program for Eritreans in 2006, which resulted in tens of thousands of African migrants flooding into the Jewish state. Once the six-month work visa expires, the migrants would then claim they are refugees or asylum seekers in an attempt to permanently stay in the country.

When Israel ended its controversial six-month work visa policy in the summer of 2012, migrants from Africa, especially those from Eritrea, virtually stopped coming overnight. In the first half of 2012, data from the Israeli Immigration and Population Authority shows 9,570 citizens of various African countries entered their country illegally, while in the first six months of 2013, only 34 did – a decrease of over 99 percent.

Israel says around 53,000 African migrants have entered the country illegally, and of this figure 36,000 are thought to be Eritreans. However, Based on their findings, the Eritrean government believes at least half (18,000) of those claiming to be Eritreans in Israel are Ethiopians or other African migrants masquerading as Eritreans in order to qualify for the defunct six-month work visa.

"They know the Eritreans automatically receive a six-month visa, so they pretend to be Eritrean," said Tesfamariam Tekeste, the Eritrean ambassador to Israel.

With thousands of Eritrean economic migrants expected to willingly return home from Israel in 2014, it remains to be seen if the Eritrean government will seek assistance from international aid agencies with housing and other expenses for the migrants.

Related reading:
 Are Eritreans in Israel Economic Migrants or Refugees?
 The Human Rights Deception Against Eritrea

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