AFRICAN MIGRANTS
Israel in new push to deport asylum seekers
Tel Aviv — Israel is finalising a deal to deport thousands of African migrants to Uganda under a new scheme after agreements with Rwanda and the UN’s refugee agency to find homes for those expelled fell through. About 4,000 migrants have left Israel for Uganda and Rwanda since 2013 under a voluntary programme, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under pressure from his supporters to expel more. In January, Israel started handing out notices to male migrants from Eritrea and Sudan giving them three months to take the voluntary deal with a plane ticket and $3,500 or risk being thrown in jail. The government said from April it would start forced deportations, but rights groups challenged the move and Israel’s Supreme Court has issued a temporary injunction to give more time for the petitioners to argue against the plan. Government representatives told the court on Tuesday that an envoy was in an African country finalising a deportation deal after an arrangement with Rwanda f...
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