Date: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
During this time, the state said, the temporary injunction issued by the court to freeze the plan to deport the migrants will remain in place.
Should the state's request be accepted, expulsion will not begin on April 1 as planned.
The Population and Immigration Authority called at the beginning of the year on migrants from Sudan and Eritrea to leave "to their country or to a third country," meaning Rwanda or Uganda. Those who leave by the end of March will be given $3,500, along with airfare and other incentives.
The ultimatum is part of a large-scale campaign to remove 42,000 illegal African migrants from Israel.
The latest request also noted that the extension is being sought in order “to allow for the senior legal and political echelons to consider the subject more closely."
In addition, the state asked to submit to the court on Monday a confidential document that it said will “present an additional reason of weight that underlies the extension request that can be presented to the court only.”
The request was filed in response to two separate petitions against the government’s program to deport the migrants, thousands of whom made their way into Israel via its once porous southern border.
