Israel: Priest appeals against deportation of 14 Filipino children

Fr David Neuhaus SJ

A group of eleven year-old boys, born in Israel to Filipino migrant worker parents, are in danger of being deported, because they don't have residence documents.

Fr David Neuhaus SJ, Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and coordinator of the Pastoral Care of Migrants, has sent an open letter to Aryeh Deri, Minister of the Interior of the State of Israel, about the case of the 14 boys.

In the letter, Fr David, who is of Jewish origin, mentions that in 1930, Philippine President Manuel Quezon, took in more than 1,300 Jews fleeing from Europe, and saved them from the Nazi death camps.

He writes: "You have decided that there is no place for them in the State of Israel. These young people were all born here, they speak almost exclusively Jewish, they consider this country as their homeland and have only a dream: to build their home here, contributing to the development and prosperity of our country."

He pointed out that the children's parents had come to Israel to take care of the elderly, disabled and sick. He said they did this job "day by day with devotion and love...Many of them left their elderly parents, disabled and sick relatives, to take care of us."

Appealing for the minister to cancel the decree of expulsion, Fr David said the deportation of the children would be "an act of cruelty" that "betrays a memory of kindness and generosity."

Source: Fides