Slippery Slope

The Ministry of Interior refuses to grant residency status to a migrant labourer from the Philippines based on her lesbian relationship with an Israeli citizen. (Haaretz)

Immigration inspectors arrested Geraldine Belingui, the 3 year-old daughter of an illegal immigrant. Geraldine was on her way to celebrate her 3^rd birthday. MK Ilan Gilon (Meretz) was refused access to the detention center where the child was held and his aide was arrested on suspicion of vandalism. The Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration said that the child’s father went back to the Philippines. The mother’s friends say that her husband is still in Israel.

(Hebrew)

An inspector operating on behalf of the Tel Aviv Municipality was arrested on suspicion of having threatened and blackmailed a migrant laborer from the Philippines. The man threatened to report the laborer to the authorities and to ensure that she and her children would be expelled from the country. It transpires from the interrogation that the man also was in the habit of threatening another migrant laborer. (Hebrew)

The Ministry of Interior repeatedly refused to register the marriage of a migrant worker originally from the Philippines to an Israeli, claiming that the marriage was fictitious. This decision was taken despite decisions to the contrary from several judicial instances. This week the Deputy President of the Tel Aviv District Court, Justice Sarah Gadot, decided that the expelling of the woman was not legal, and directed the Ministry of Interior to permit the woman to continue her process of naturalization. (Hebrew, English)