The legislation, brought forth by Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar as a means of dealing with ‘infiltrators,’ receives preliminary approval from a ministerial committee.
By Jonathan Lis and Ilan Lior, HAARETZ | Apr.22, 2013
A committee of legislative ministers on Sunday approved a bill that would forbid illegal migrants from sending money abroad while living in Israel. The bill was proposed by Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who said it is “meant to use economic means to deal with the phenomenon of infiltrators in Israel.” The bill passed during first reading in the previous Knesset, and the governmental stamp of approval received on Sunday will allow the bill to proceed on to a second and third reading.
The bill would make it a criminal offense for an illegal migrant to send money abroad ? or for someone else to send money abroad on the migrant’s behalf. The bill would allow an illegal migrant to transfer money out of the country only upon leaving Israel, although there would be further limitations regarding the amount so as to prevent one migrant from transferring money for another. The maximum amount of funds permitted for transfer upon leaving the country would be equal to the minimum monthly wage multiplied by the number of months the migrant spent in Israel.
The bill would also provide a temporary framework for sending money abroad for humanitarian reasons. If a member of a migrant’s immediate family is in danger of death, and the migrant cannot leave Israel, he or she would be allowed to send money abroad. According to Sa’ar, “sending money abroad is the economic incentive behind the infiltrator phenomenon. The law would stop the transfer of large sums of money abroad, and also allow for law enforcement authorities to operate.”
Sources in the Interior Ministry claim that at present, roughly a third of money transferred abroad by migrants ? roughly NIS 680 million ? is sent from Tel Aviv. “The bill would allow law enforcement agencies to act against money changers and prevent exorbitant sums from being transferred abroad, which is the real incentive for tens of thousands of infiltrators to enter Israel,” said a ministry source
Association of Civil Rights in Israel attorney Oded Feller said Sunday that the bill is flawed. “The bill essentially seeks to allow the state to steal money and property from refugees as they leave Israel.” Feller added that during the debate Sunday, clauses were added to the bill prohibiting the removal of property from Israel, allegedly to prevent the need to send material goods to refugees who have been deported.
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