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Story Publication logo September 18, 2018

The Impact of Israel's Deposit Law on Single Mothers

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In this Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018 photo, Eritrean migrant Gharmay Negassi works at a barbershop in Tel Aviv, Israel. African migrants coming into Israel have been detained, threatened with deportation, and faced hostility from lawmakers and residents. Now, they face another burden: a de facto 20 percent salary cut that has squeezed them financially and driven them further into poverty. Image by Caron Creighton. Israel, 2017.
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Asylum seekers to Israel are faced with a number of struggles. For example, there are many anti...

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On July 24, 2018, a group of demonstrators, including Bisrat Geryasus (second from left), protest Israel's "Deposit Law" outside the country's Supreme Court. Image by Caron Creighton. Israel, 2018. From Caron Creighton's Pulitzer Center student fellow project, "Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum Seekers in Israel."
On July 24, 2018, a group of demonstrators, including Bisrat Geryasus (second from left), protest Israel's 'Deposit Law' outside the country's Supreme Court. Image by Caron Creighton. Israel, 2018. From Caron Creighton's Pulitzer Center student fellow project, 'Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum Seekers in Israel.'

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism student fellow Caron Creigton speaks with Bisrat Geryasus, director of the Eritrean Women's Center, a grassroots organization created and run by Eritrean women, that offers aid within their community in South Tel Aviv.

Creighton asked Bisrat to highlight some of the main issues facing Tel Aviv's Eritrean community, specifically about how people have been impacted by the deposit law. This Israeli law takes 20 percent out of the salaries of asylum seekers and puts it in a fund that can only be accessed once they leave the country. The Israeli government has admitted that this is being used as a tactic to get asylum seekers to leave.

Bisrat discusses one section of the population that she believes is disproportionately impacted by the law: single mothers.

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