Hundreds of African immigrants have been forced to locate to a detention center in Israel, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. The newly constructed Holot detention center will house the Africans while the Israeli government determines where they should go.
The number of Africans at the Holot center is expected to reach 3,500 by the end of next month, Daniel Solomon, a legal advisor for Israel's Interior Ministry, told the AP.
Solomon told the AP that Holot is an "open" facility, where anyone can leave during they day when they want. However, residents have to sign in multiple times throughout the day and return at night to sleep, which guarantees their stay, the AP reported.
"All their needs will be taken care of," Solomon told the AP. "The idea being basically taking them off the job market, they are not allowed to work outside the facility even though they are free to come and go."
Israel has seen an increase of African immigrants, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, over the last few years. According to the Israeli government, the Africans, close to 50,000, are migrants who came to Israel in search of work, the AP reported. Yet the immigrants say they fled their countries to escape oppression.
Since Israel is not allowed to send the migrants home because their lives would be in danger, the government is relying on other methods to make them leave. Solomon told the AP the government offered the Africans money in the amount of several thousand dollars to leave.
In addition, Israel is partnering with another African country, which Solomon did not name, that agreed to let the migrants come, the AP reported. Solomon did not reveal what Israel offered the African country for the agreement.
The government is also trying to swiftly process requests for asylum.
The United Nations said in early January that housing Africans in the detention center brings about "hardship and suffering," and goes against the 1951 world treaty on how refugees should be treated, Al Jazeera.com reported.
