Filipino workers feel the brunt of Israel's anti-family immigration policy

August 31, 2011

A Filipino woman and her 4-year-old child, the wife and daughter of a legal immigrant worker, have been deported from Israel, in the first unhappy application of a policy designed to protect the Jewish majority in Israel.

Israel immigration policy requires that if a child is born to a resident alien, the mother and child must return to their native land within 3 months. The policy--part of Israel’s effort to guard against the erosion of the nation’s Jewish majority—can have the effect of breaking up families living legally in the country.

Although Israeli immigration policies are aimed primarily at curbing the growth in the Arab population—which now accounts for roughly 20% of Israel’s total—the policy regarding children falls most heavily on the 50,000 immigrant workers from the Philippines.

 

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Further information:

• Israel, Discrimination Against Filipino Catholics: the Ofek Case (Vatican Insider)