Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
Jul 9, 2012
Making Israel Unattractive to Migrants
The next stage in the fight against the influx of the illegal migrant workers is now beginning.
All over the western world people travel from countries in bad financial situations in order to find work. Much of what they earn is sent back to their family back home to help them. Sometimes it is to help them survive, while at other times it is with the goal of saving enough to eventually bring them to the new country.
This is not just true nowadays with workers from the Sudan and Eritrea, from Poland, the Philippines or anywhere else. It was also true 100 years ago when Jewish men left Russia and Poland to earn some money in the USA and they would send much of it back to support their families they had left behind.
The African migrants in Israel do the same. They come here knowing work is available and that they will earn better parnassa than they would back home (or in many other places).
The Ministry of Justice has proposed an amendment to the law preventing migrants that would prohibit them from sending money abroad. A migrant worker who would send money back to their family would be liable to 6 months in jail or a fine of nearly 30,000 NIS! Anybody caught assisting in the sending of the migrant's money would be liable to up to a year in jail, or to the same fine, or double the amount that was being sent abroad.
(source: Ynet)
When the migrants are planning their trips to countries where they would be able to work and save up money, it is assumed that if the country will not let them send the money back home to help the family that Israel will then be a less-attractive option. Maybe they will stick Israel further down their list of options.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
All over the western world people travel from countries in bad financial situations in order to find work. Much of what they earn is sent back to their family back home to help them. Sometimes it is to help them survive, while at other times it is with the goal of saving enough to eventually bring them to the new country.
This is not just true nowadays with workers from the Sudan and Eritrea, from Poland, the Philippines or anywhere else. It was also true 100 years ago when Jewish men left Russia and Poland to earn some money in the USA and they would send much of it back to support their families they had left behind.
The African migrants in Israel do the same. They come here knowing work is available and that they will earn better parnassa than they would back home (or in many other places).
The Ministry of Justice has proposed an amendment to the law preventing migrants that would prohibit them from sending money abroad. A migrant worker who would send money back to their family would be liable to 6 months in jail or a fine of nearly 30,000 NIS! Anybody caught assisting in the sending of the migrant's money would be liable to up to a year in jail, or to the same fine, or double the amount that was being sent abroad.
(source: Ynet)
When the migrants are planning their trips to countries where they would be able to work and save up money, it is assumed that if the country will not let them send the money back home to help the family that Israel will then be a less-attractive option. Maybe they will stick Israel further down their list of options.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
If it is already illegal to be an illegal entrant to Israel, so why the need for another law to make it illegal for an illegal entrant to transfer money? In any case this proposal may be a bit like the argument over illegalization of drugs and prostitution. It may just drive the money transfer business underground.
ReplyDeleteI understand the proposal to be that no migrant can send money overseas. Even fi you get an entry visa and work permit, you cannot send money abroad. That would really make it unattractive to come at all. But yes, it might just create a black market...
ReplyDeleteWhat about legal workers? If you were to stop them sending money then all the Filipina carers, and Chinese and Thai agricultural workers would have to go home as well. I can't imagine that is the intention.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I was just about to comment on all the Filipinos working in geriatric care. They're all legal migrants, and they all send their savings back to their families. What will Israel do without all these extremely necessary caregivers whom we're punishing with this law?
DeleteShort of imposing currency and capital controls, this is unenforceable. It will result in a black market. The lawyers should have talked to the economists.
ReplyDeleteIt's entirely enforceable, since you can't just mail money somewhere. Well you can, but your family won't get the money. It's not like Shekels are a super popular currency.
ReplyDeleteMy question however is if there is ever a legitimate reason to send money, and how are those legitimate reasons taken care of in the new law?