Meretz MKs said they will open their private homes to any Filipino child or family facing deportation from the country on Tuesday. The MKs are counting on their parliamentary immunity to defend the children and their parents from being arrested by police. In principle, police would need special permission to search the house of an MK, but searches are possible because MKs enjoy qualified immunity but not absolute immunity. Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg said that “this deportation must be stopped,” Mako reported. She also said that even if the Filipino woman now detained will be deported, another one “will simply be brought to replace her.” On Monday, Immigration Police arrested a Filipino mother and her 12-year-old son; the two are held at a detention facility at Ben-Gurion Airport ahead of their deportation. Those who support the operation claimed that when foreign workers gain permits to work in Israel they agree not to create families during their stay, and that a situation in which the country rewards those who break the law with residency permits is wrong.
