Twelve Malawian migrant workers have been deported from Israel for allegedly violating the Middle East country’s immigration laws by changing jobs without following proper procedures.
Malawi’s Information Minister Moses Kumkuyu said the 12 were arrested by Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority after abandoning their lawful employment at farms in the Middle East country.
He said the Malawians had valid visas and contracts to work in specific farms in the Israeli agriculture sector but “they abandoned their lawful employment at the farms to start working at the bakery.”
“The Government of Malawi wishes to inform the general public that the detained Malawians have been processed through the normal legal channels in the State of Israel and a determination has been made on the 12 workers who have since been deported,” Kumkuyu said in a statement late Tuesday.
Four of the workers arrived back in Malawi on Tuesday, with the remainder due to arrive on Wednesday.
It is an offence under Israeli law for a foreign worker holding a specific visa or work permit and contract to change jobs without following the necessary procedures.
The deported workers are part of hundreds of Malawians who have been working in Israel since late last year as part of a government labour export programme aimed at finding jobs for young people and generating desperately needed foreign exchange.
JN/APA