The African influx into Israel peaked in 2010, with 1,300 illegal immigrants crossing into the country from the Sinai in Egypt each month. At its peak in 2012, Israel had over 60,000 African immigrants residing illegally in the country, making up over 0.7 per cent of the Jewish nation’s population.

The large number of African immigrants led to protests by locals in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities and a survey conducted earlier this year showed that 66 per cent of Jewish Israelis supported the government moves to deport the illegal African immigrants. Half of the Israeli Arabs, who make up 20 per cent of Israel’s population, supported the government move too.

The Israeli residents seeking deportation of the illegal immigrants cited their frequent involvement in crime as the reason behind the demand. Israeli politicians defending the deportation plans too echoed the residents’ concerns. A very similar situation exists in India, with the Rohingyas being labelled as a national security threat by the Indian government.

In February, protests against the Israeli government’s plan to deport illegal immigrants were met with counter-protests in southern Tel Aviv, but the Israeli government has managed to bring down the number of illegal immigrants to approximately 39,000 since the peak.

But how did Israel manage to contain the growing numbers of illegal immigrants and even reduce them?

First and the foremost, Israel plugged its porous border with Egypt in the Sinai peninsula through which most of the African immigrants were crossing into the country. Under its Project Hourglass, Israel began building a border fence equipped with cameras, radar and motion detectors on 22 November 2010 when the immigrant influx was peaking. While the main section of the fence was completed in January 2013, the last section was completed in December that year. The estimated cost of the project was $450 million with more than 200 km of the fence laid.