Swimming across the Dead Sea
Israel threw open its immigration gates to all Jews wishing to return to their historic homeland, thereby strengthening its ranks and pushing its closest neighbors out of the labor market. A wave of Eastern Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Filipinos poured in—an assortment of Jews and non-Jews, all seeking a better life. There is only one road to Israel, but the methods and techniques of "entry" are completely different. Some enter through a door called Ben-Gurion International Airport, officially presenting entry documents, while others jump from ships and cross the border with Jordan. On one occasion, Israeli police detained three Ukrainian illegal migrants who tried to enter the country by swimming across the Dead Sea. Alas, the daredevils failed to consider that the Dead Sea has such a high salt content that it is practically impossible to submerge oneself in the water. Their "drift" lasted 16 hours until the border rescue service arrived.
For many of those whom customs services enter into their computers, the "purpose of trip" line reads "tourism," and their visas bear a specific departure date from Israel that remains merely an outdated figure. Illegal tourists have firmly settled in the country. Despite the specific climate, terrorist attacks, and dubious prospects, Israel has become one of the countries with the highest percentage of illegal workers in the world. According to some estimates, Israel has between 150,000 and 300,000 illegal workers—between three and five percent of the country's total population of 6 million. No one dares to give an exact figure, nor can they—that is, after all, what it means to be illegal, to be able to disappear thoroughly within a small country.
Dozens of agencies are engaged in the lucrative business of importing labor from the former Soviet republics, including by illegal means. There is also a price that illegal migrants must pay when they hand their fate to the aforementioned entrepreneurs. The fee for sending someone to Israel ranges from $1,500 to $5,000, depending on the specific case and the country from which the illegal immigrants depart. What makes people fall for a newspaper ad that says, "We help you immigrate. Work in prestigious families in the USA, Israel, Germany... High salaries guaranteed"?
The story we are about to tell is a rather rare case, beyond the usual scheme of "importing" illegal migrants to Israel. For obvious reasons, names are not mentioned, as these people are still alive and well in the country, now fully legally. This story is not connected to the "import" of labor; the illegal route into the country was chosen in the name of good intentions.
Crime for Salvation
Seven years ago, a Jewish family of repatriates arriving from Kyiv—a mother and daughter—passed through passport control at Ben-Gurion Airport. A comely woman wheeled before her a wheelchair with a charming little girl, endlessly repeating her own name. To cross the border without hindrance, they had to strictly follow the instructions of the firm that organized their illegal immigration to Israel. The documents bore completely different names, and the girl tried to memorize the new, hard-to-pronounce name. The desperate mother was driven to such an act by a verdict-like diagnosis given to the ten-year-old girl by Kyiv oncologists—bone cancer. The daughter needed urgent surgery that cost a huge sum of money. All possible and impossible options had been exhausted in Kyiv. Then the girl's parents decided on one final step and sent letters to specialists in various countries practicing in that field. A positive answer came only from Israel, stating that a well-known Israeli surgeon was willing to perform the operation. The letter also noted that for new repatriates, the operation would be free of charge; otherwise, $100,000 would need to be transferred to the clinic's account. To become "Jews," a certain Kyiv firm offered to purchase genuine documents for $25,000—that was the price for the mother and daughter's entry into Israel. The documents, along with entire family archives, were bought by the firm's agents from Jewish families in the provincial cities of Ukraine—Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, and Vinnytsia. Afterward, the "victim" family would report a robbery to local authorities, where the lost documents were restored for a symbolic fee. The cost of such a transaction reached $5,000, which in Ukraine was and is considered a significant sum. The girl's parents took the risk, but they had no other choice. They sold their apartment and all their belongings, borrowed money from relatives and friends. The money was barely enough for the illegal transportation of the mother and daughter to Israel, and the father was left in Kyiv with nothing, hoping for his daughter's recovery.
This story has an optimistic ending. The operation and rehabilitation were successful; the girl recovered and grew into a beautiful Israeli young woman. Having gone through the circles of hell, the mother and daughter stayed to live in Israel, came to love the country, and are very grateful to it.
Sometimes life pushes people to desperate acts, and it also forces them to set off on distant journeys in search of the "long ruble." According to statistics, nearly one in ten tourists from Russia and Ukraine remains in Israel illegally, but the record holder is still Germany, which has sheltered about a million illegal migrants from around the world.
The life of illegal migrants in Israel differs from immigrant life in quiet, conservative Europe. Outwardly, it is practically impossible to distinguish Russian-speaking illegal migrants from law-abiding Israeli citizens. Getting lost in the crowd of the "Russian street" without arousing suspicion from the local police is a trivial matter. The absence of a language barrier is perhaps one of the main reasons attracting illegal migrants to Israel. Knowing a few words of Hebrew, one can communicate adequately with an employer or tell a pretty policewoman that one left documents at home out of forgetfulness. As long as you don't make trouble or break the law, no problems will arise.
Exchange on Chlenov Street
Russian-speaking illegal immigrants live their own isolated lives, one might say as a community, not letting anyone into their inner world. They do not make friends on the outside, do not make contacts, much less with journalists. That is understandable: why would they need an extra headache, in case someone "rats them out" and they get deported in no time. And they have almost no free time left; they work 12-16 hours, sometimes more. The houses where foreign workers live are all alike. No, they are not barracks, but the oldest buildings in Tel Aviv, gray and gloomy, yet quite habitable. In the small rooms there is a minimum of household items and a lack of personal space. As a rule, apartments are rented by several people to save as much money as possible. Landlords rent housing to illegal immigrants with great reluctance, but there are also those who profit from this situation.
Recently, the Israeli press, in the "Crime Chronicle" section, commented on a case that occurred in one of the apartments in Tel Aviv. The apartment owner rented housing to a group of illegal workers, took money from them three months in advance, and a couple of days later reported their whereabouts to the police. The illegal immigrants were taken away in handcuffs, and their place was taken by others. This continued until the apartment owner ran into Russian illegal tenants, and that was the end of his "business"; he too will have to answer to the law.
In most cases, illegal immigrants find jobs themselves, since supplier firms deceive their clients and simply "rip them off." In Israel, they are very willing to hire illegal immigrants. Employers save a lot of money on them while getting maximum quality work. Risk is a familiar word in Israel, so in the event of a "raid," the fine paid is much less than the profit gained. You can find work directly. To do this, it is enough to come to a designated place known to all illegal immigrants. It is located in the very center of Tel Aviv, on Chlenov Street. Cars periodically drive up there, a hand sticks out of the open window, and the boss shows on his fingers to the gathered illegal immigrants the number of workers he needs. This labor exchange is becoming less and less popular, as the work offered is hard and short-term. More suitable work can be obtained through a private employment agency, with which employers conclude contracts, paying out a substantial sum of money. In this case, all responsibility is shifted to the intermediary, which suits both parties. Of course, you can also find work through newspaper advertisements, which have recently not been very full of "Help Wanted" sections. They contain the caveat - "...possible for tourists." Such advertisements are used by women, since in most cases they offer work caring for the elderly. Illegal workers earn on average $1,000-1,300 per month, considering that they receive the minimum wage by Israeli standards.
The most painful topic for all illegal immigrants is medical insurance. Nevertheless, as the illegal immigrants themselves say, in a critical situation they will always be given emergency aid in Israel. When it comes time to pay for services, one can "check out" a day earlier. One need not look far for an example. In the terrorist attack that occurred this spring in a Tel Aviv cafe, mostly illegal immigrants were injured. Those who were not afraid to "come out of the shadows" were given first aid and promises from local authorities not to deport them from the country. To avoid trouble, the injured illegal immigrants still ran home with bandaged arms and legs.
How to become legal
For Israeli illegal immigrants, legalization in the country through marriage advertisements is completely ruled out. Registration of marriage for a "mixed" family can only be carried out outside Israel. To do this, one must leave the state and cross border control, and re-entry is then no longer possible.
There is another way to move from the category of illegal immigrant to a legal citizen of Israel. The only chance to get a proper blue passport is to be the mother of a soldier who has served in the Israeli army without blemish. Today in Israel, just over half of the soldiers in IDF uniform are not Jews at all! Many of them are stateless persons who came to the country on the principle of "our plumber's cousin on the father's side." These guys serve in the army not only for official status; risking their lives, they protect Israel. Their mothers, who are in the country illegally, receive their civil rights quite deservedly.
Israel has been fighting the problem of illegal immigrants for a long time. Unfortunately, the country currently has many of its own unemployed, so illegal immigrants shuffle the cards in the labor market. People caught without the right to live in the country fill the prisons, waiting for employers, relatives, or embassies to pay for their ticket. Some sit on the bunks for years.
In order to brighten the lives of illegal immigrants awaiting deportation, the Israel Prison Service has announced a tender for hotels that are empty without tourists. The tender stipulates that the detention center must adhere to hotel standards, not prison ones. From now on, arrested illegal immigrants will be held in the "Renaissance" hotel in the ancient city of Nazareth, so that they can get at least a little rest before being sent home.