This is the first time a six-year-old child, who is attending kindergarten and is part of Israel's education system, is arrested to be deported.
By Talila Nesher | Jul.01, 2012
Only two days after the school year ended, an Israel-born
six-year-old girl was arrested along with her mother, a migrant worker
from the Philippines, ahead of their deportation.
This is the first time a child at such a young age, which is attending
kindergarten and is a part of the education system, is arrested to be
deported. The Interior Ministry's Population and Immigration Authority
asked to clarify that they had waited for the school year to end before
carrying out the arrest.
A.J. Mathias finished kindergarten on Friday and was planning to start
first grade in two months. Her mother, Annalyn, had come to Israel
legally, but lost her work permit when she had a baby.
Nearly two years ago, the government agreed to give residency status to
migrants' children and families, in accordance with criteria set by an
inter-ministerial committee. The criteria was that the child had to have
entered Israel before the age of 13 and to have been in the country for
at least five years; that he or she was going up to first grade or
higher on the day the decision was made; that the child knew Hebrew and
that the parents had entered Israel legally and only subsequently lost
their legal status.
To date, 257 families were granted status in accordance with the
committee decisions. 183 requests were denied since the criteria was not
met. Applications of some 260 families are still pending decision after
it was decided they will be reviewed by an exceptions committee,
overseen by Interior Minister Eli Yishai. No decision, however, has yet
to be made.
A.J.'s family has never applied for status, since two years ago, on the
qualification date decided by the government, she was too young to meet
the criteria. Today she would meet the criteria, however now she will
not be given a chance to apply. She, as hundreds like her, is now facing
deportation.
Aid organizations accuse Yishai of dragging his feet and of refusing to
decide for almost two years what will be the fate of the families which
applied for a legal status. Given the time that has passed, many
children who did not meet the requirements back then, do now. 18 months
ago Yishai agreed to put off the enforcement on migrant families with
children who were in school, so they could finish the school year "out
of sensitivity and utmost attention," as he explained. However, since
then, he has taken no action against them.
When the criteria was publicized, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar
praised Yishai for agreeing not to deport children who were in the
education system. On Sunday, the Israeli Children NGO, along with other
activists, demonstrated in front of Sa'ar's house in Tel Aviv demanding
him to step up on behalf of some 400 children in the school system who
now meet the old criteria.
Israeli Children activist Rotem Ilan said that he expects Sa'ar to
"keep fighting for those 400 children that, as he declared, must stay in
Israel, their land of birth." Ilan sees the arrests as "a transparent
and wicked attempt by the interior minister to pull the wool over the
public's eyes, that way the public will think he is dealing with the
migration problem in Israel."
The immigration authority said in response that A.J. had never
requested a status, and because she didn't meet the criteria at the
time, there was nothing to prevent her arrest.
