Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered the
release of “illegal migrants” or refugees held for more than a year at a
detention centre in the Negev desert.
On Tuesday, 750 people were released in
small groups with 428 scheduled to be freed on Wednesday, the prison
service spokeswoman said.
But those freed were left with few options, after being barred from two cities.
Detainees leaving the facility waited at
bus stops for rides and wondered where they would live after being
banned from Tel Aviv and Eilat, in the face of hostility from many
residents, the AFP news agency reported.
As in other parts of the world,
immigration has become a high-profile issue in Israel, with right-wing
politicians calling for action to limit it and activists urging the
government to accept people from countries such as Eritrea.
“We don’t know where to go, where we’re
going to sleep tonight,” said Salah, a 33-year-old Sudanese man who has
been in Israel for nine years, including 20 months at the detention
centre.
Nissan Ben Hamo, the mayor of Arad near
the Dead Sea, said on Facebook that he would call on residents to
“defend their city” if it became necessary.
He ordered staff and local police to deploy to the entrance of the city to block the freed migrants from entering.
The Supreme Court two weeks ago
overturned a provision of a law that would have allowed illegal
immigrants to be held for up to 20 months without trial.
It ruled that “illegal migrants” held for more than a year should be released within two weeks.
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