Mother and Child Face Deportation From Israel
A foreign worker and her 4-year-old daughter, who was born and educated in Israel, were due to be deported yesterday after a judge denied a petition to delay the move.
The Petah Tikvah District Court ordered last night’s scheduled deportation of 4-year-old Ofek and her mother Nancy, who was held in custody. The two were set to leave on a flight to Korea around midnight, and from there continue to the Philippines.
The judge castigated the Immigration and Population Authority for the haste in which it arrested the mother and daughter ahead of their deportation. “Such a rushed procedure is inappropriate and should not occur in a state of proper conduct,” said Judge Avraham Yaakov. “People are not cattle and should be given the chance to process their deportation in a reasonable manner.”
He said the two should have been given a longer period of time to adjust, but he rejected the petition to give them more time because “the child has spent the past week with her father and during that time I believe she said goodbye to him properly.”
Ofek was able to spend the past week with her father thanks to a court order that delayed her deportation at the last moment and enabled her to meet with her father before being sent out of Israel.
For more, see Haaretz.com
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