Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Democrats Urge Israel To Release African Asylum Seekers

(JTA) — A Democratic congressional delegation that met this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the release of African asylum seekers being held in an Israeli prison.

In a letter Tuesday that originated in the office of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, 11 Democrats said they met with representatives of asylum seekers who said they faced government abuse and human rights violations in their native Sudan and Eritrea. The letter, sent a day after the delegation’s meeting with Netanyahu, cited a ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court saying the Africans could not be deported by force, and therefore there is no legal justification for their “continued detention.”

“We hope these detainees will be released before the Passover holiday and that durable solutions, including in Israel, can be found,” the legislators wrote.

Last month, Israel’s Border Authority jailed 280 asylum seekers at the Saharonim prison in the south of Israel after they refused to be sent to a third country.

There are up to 40,000 Eritreans and Sudanese living in Israel, including 5,000 children. The Israeli government hopes to implement a plan after Passover to force the migrants to choose between jail and deportation.

In addition to Pelosi, the delegation to Israel included Reps. Adam Schiff and Jimmy Panetta of California, Rosa DeLauro and Jim Himes of Connecticut, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Henry Cueller of Texas, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Donald McEachin of Virginia and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

The trip included stops in Israel and Jordan.

The post House Democrats urge Israel to release jailed African asylum seekers appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.