Update from the Hotline for Migrant Workers

שלום לכולם!
Last week, another intern and I went with a lawyer from the legal department to a hearing at a courthouse in Petah Tikva. The case had to do with a new “unwritten policy” of the Ministry of the Interior regarding migrant workers. The policy is that if a migrant worker marries another migrant worker, or gets pregnant, then the worker's visa is canceled and he or she is deported. The client that the Hotline was representing, with the help of ACRI (Association for Civil Rights in Israel), was a nearly eight-months-pregnant woman who had recently been released from a detention center (with our help). Now, we were arguing that she should be given a visa that lasts at least three months from the due date, so that she can get health benefits and receive medical care here. The lawyer for the state – who, by the way, seemed slightly inexperienced – argued that she should only be given a visa up until her deportation hearing. The judge, who was more argumentative than either of the lawyers, kept talking over the government lawyer and saying things like “if you didn't always postpone the hearings another two weeks, another two weeks, then maybe this would already be solved, but I'm not going to deport a woman about to go into labor!”

Needless to say, the lawyer for the state failed her case and our client can stay. Unfortunately, it seems like the unwritten policy is still in force unless we can get a higher court to strike it down, or the Knesset (parliament) to specifically protect migrant workers against something like this happening again. In Israel, the current ministers of the Knesset lean toward the right, but the Supreme Court is a holdout for the liberals (kind of the opposite of the USA) so we usually have better luck with judges.

One funny thing about the day was the way people dressed. In Israel, almost no one wears suits, ever. People wear crocs to weddings. But in court, the lawyers are supposed to wear a suit and tie under a formal black robe that looks almost like a graduation gown. However, since no one really cares for formality, one of the lawyers was wearing dark jeans under his robe, and none of the lawyers actually wore suits. (After all, as one pointed out, you can't really tell with the robe on top – and it's hot out!)

On Thursday, the other legal intern and I, plus a group of 6 other future volunteers, got trained to visit the detention center near Tel Aviv and to interview asylum seekers and migrant workers who are housed there while the government decides what their status is. This Thursday, we're all going down to the detention center together for our first interviewing session – so I'll write more about all this after we go!

In the mean time, I'm still enjoying my time here, aside from the ridiculous heat and humidity. (Today it's 40ºC although probably no competition with those of you who are even closer to the equator). This week I'm visiting the Nalagaat center, a non-profit organization that provides a stage for blind and deaf actors and has an attached restaurant where patrons are served food in total pitch-black darkness. (http://www.nalagaat.org.il/home.php) Can't wait!

L'hitraot! (See you later!)
-Laura