Only 18 African infiltrators have entered Israel illegally since January 2016, the lowest number in recent years, the quarterly report of the Israeli Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority has found.
Before the construction of the Israel-Egypt border fence, a project proposed by the Israel Defense Forces and authorized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, infiltrators—illegal border crossers—poured into Israel from the Sinai Desert by the thousands.
“Since 2012, when progress was made on building a ground obstacle on the southern border and a legislative amendment was applied to prolong the length of time for which illegal migrants can be held in custody, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of infiltrators entering Israel illegally,” the Population and Immigration Authority’s report stated.
Since May 2016, not one African infiltrator has illegally entered Israel through the border fence with Egypt, the report added.
Israel’s highest influx of illegal migrants came in 2011, when 17,268 Africans entered Israel.
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(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org)