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Israel threatens to expulse hundreds of Filipino children

Israeli authorities have notified dozens of Filipina migrant workers that they will be expulsed from the country once the school year is over, together with their children.
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Hundreds of high school students in Tel Aviv protested June 17 against the order to deport their friends from Israel — about a hundred youths who were born in Israel to migrant workers from the Philippines. On June 24, a larger protest was staged with the participation of students and teachers from the 12 schools where the children threatened with deportation study.

The state intends to deport about a hundred Filipina migrant workers with their children at the end of the school year, at the end of June, since their work visas have expired. “These are foreign nationals who have stayed in Israel for a very long period in violation of the law and without a legal status,” the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority stated. “In some cases, the father of the children returned to his homeland. These workers were arrested because of their illegal status, but out of consideration and a desire to work with them it was decided to allow their children to finish the school year and to let the mothers leave of their own accord with their children and return home. We regret the attempt to exploit this considerate decision.”

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