Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger cancelled a High Court for Justice injunction against the revised version of the Infiltration Law going into effect on Tuesday, paving the way for Israel to crack down on its illegal immigration issue. 

NGO Israeli Immigration Policy Center’s director Orli Yogir welcomed the move. 

“The rejection of the interim order is necessary and appropriate, given the fact that legislation of the Israeli Knesset supported it, and the provision of an interim order severely harms Israeli citizens and residents of south Tel Aviv in particular,” Yogir said.

“We hope that the rejection of the application must be expected to include their entire petition, to reject it out of hand and allow illegal immigrants to be removed from places of employment in the State of Israel’s biggest cities.” 

The Infiltrator law was revived in November, after key elements were shot down several months ago by the High Court for Justice.

The new version of the law, formulated by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Interior Ministry and the Justice Ministry, mandates that asylum seekers will stay in Holot for one year and eight months – eight months more than the period proposed by the original law.

New infiltrators caught in Israel illegally will be sent to the Saharonim prison for three months, as well, less than the one-year period in the original law. 

In addition, the state will try to ensure that asylum seekers leave the country in several ways. With the approval of the law, employers will be required to deposit a monthly fee for employing asylum seekers, at the expense of severance pay.

Each asylum seeker working in Israel will also be required to deposit money from his/her own paycheck, which he/she will receive only upon leaving Israel.

The issue is a matter of public perception versus public safety. While proponents of the High Court ruling argue that the detention center is a “human rights” issue, a direct correlation has also been made between infiltration and violent crime.