ABSTRACT
As a self-proclaimed Jewish state, Israel’s immigration and citizenship regime determines whom to include largely based on a Jewish/other distinction. This policy has historically disadvantaged asylum-seekers, whom the state considers a threat to its Jewish identity. However, only when tens of thousands of asylum-seekers from Eritrea and Sudan began entering Israel in the mid-2000s, did the government begin to consider immigration detention as a widespread and long-term measure. This chapter provides the background for Israel’s 2012 resolution to initiate a system of crimmigration under international protection, demonstrating that the decision to turn to the field of criminal law was highly motivated by the threats associated with the impracticability of deportation.
