Israel is giving African migrants seeking asylum in the country an ultimatum — leave or end up in jail.

The deportation plan, announced January 1, has stirred alarm among the international community and human rights groups, who say imprisoning asylum seekers goes against Israel’s democratic ideals and is the latest example of the country shedding its responsibility to refugees.

“Instead of jailing them, Israel should fairly identify and protect refugees among them,” said Gerry Simpson, associate refugee director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement last month. He added that the latest crackdown is part of Israel’s ongoing “quest to dodge its refugee protection duties.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies refugees are being targeted at all by the new plan. “We are taking action against illegal immigrants who come here for work purposes,” Netanyahu said at a recent cabinet meeting. He affirmed Israel would continue to shelter refugees and deport “illegal infiltrators.”

But the majority of Israel’s roughly 40,000 African migrant population are believed to fit the refugee profile, having escaped conflict and repression at home in Sudan and Eritrea. As a result, rights groups say these migrants should be treated as asylum seekers and be eligible for special protections reserved for refugees.

Typically, this is where the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) would come in to steer the process, but Israel took over refugee status determination from UNHCR in 2009. Since then, asylum applications have stalled and rejections have soared.

Only 11 people have been given refugee status from Israel in nearly a decade.