Israel scraps plan for migrants

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government has scrapped a controversial plan to deport thousands of African migrants after a high-court petition filed by human rights groups challenged the plan’s validity.

The government’s announcement Tuesday that it was abandoning the effort to send the migrants to unidentified African countries — widely reported to be Rwanda and Uganda — was welcomed as a positive step by advocates for about 36,000 migrants in Israel. But the move is also likely to bring even more uncertainty to those who have no official status here.

“At this stage, the possibility of deportation to a third country is not on the agenda,” wrote the government’s legal representative in response to the petition. “Therefore, as of April 17, 2018, the state has ceased to hold hearings as part of the deportation policy, and no more deportation decisions will be made at this time.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that he intends to reopen Holot, a detention facility in Israel’s Negev desert that had been used until recently to house mainly single, male migrants.

Members of Netanyahu’s coalition said they agreed with the decision to reopen that facility, and several said they would advance new legislation to deport the migrants, including a clause preventing the high court from challenging such a law. Coalition members have demanded that the government expel all those who entered the country illegally, even though such action might contravene international conventions signed by Israel.

“Whatever Netanyahu has in mind now to deal with this situation it is most likely unconstitutional, and the price of implementing it will likely mean throwing Israel out of the family of democratic nations,” said Sigal Rozen, public policy director at the Hotline for Migrant Workers, one of the six nongovernmental organizations that filed the petition.

She said that thousands of people had started to gather outside the office in Tel Aviv that issues visas to migrants, hoping to renew their permits in the coming days.