Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Wednesday that migrants from the Ivory Coast
have less than a week to leave the country and if they do not, the Population,
Immigration and Border Authority will deport them.
“In less than a week,
the deadline given to the migrants from the Ivory Coast to leave the country
voluntarily will expire,” said Yishai.
The Interior Ministry offered any
migrant who leaves of his or her own free will a grant of $500 per adult and
$100 per child. If they do not leave before that deadline, they will be deported
without receiving the grant.
“The migrants must be careful not to
mistakenly interpret as weakness my agreement to give them even more time than
the court gave them to organize themselves to leave the country,” he said. “As
the deadline passes we will act with a severe, uncompromising hand... until the
last Ivory Coast migrant has left Israel.”
Of the 65,000 African migrants
believed to be in the country, the number from the Ivory Coast is estimated to
be from a few hundred to some 2,000.
“This is another positive step
toward preserving the state and restoring a sense of security to the residents
of the neighborhoods,” he added.