The entrance to Holot immigration detention center, Negev desert, Israel.

In 2010 Israel began building a barrier along sections of its border with Egypt to curb the influx of refugees from African countries. Construction was completed in January 2013.^[40] 230 km of fence have been built.^[41] While 9,570 citizens of various African countries entered Israel illegally in the first half of 2012, only 34 did the same in the first six months of 2013, after construction of the barrier was completed. It represents a decrease of over 99%.^[42][43]

Israel also began deporting thousands of illegal immigrants who were residing in the country.^[44][45] It was reported that Israel was close to signing a deal with several African countries that accepted tens of thousands of African migrants currently residing in Israel in exchange for a benefits package including weapons, military knowledge, economic and agricultural aid.^[46]

In 2012, the Israeli Knesset passed an "anti-infiltration law." Many Africans who entered after the bill's passage or those whose visas have expired have been to the or the neighboring Saharonim prison. Advocates like MK Michal Rozin visited Saharonim and said that migrants received adequate food and medical care and were not mistreated, but said that sending migrants there was inhumane. However, conditions for many refugees elsewhere in the region are worse, and Israeli officials maintained that conditions there were adequate.^[47] After the Supreme Court of Israel declared that the long-term custody of migrants in Sahronim was unconstitutional, the government opened Holot, an open facility, in December 2013. The 1,800 residents at Holot are allowed to leave but are required to sign in three times a day and return for an evening curfew.^[19][48] Israeli courts cancelled summonses of African asylum seekers to the Holot facility, and froze others until appeals can be heard against them. Judges also criticized the summons process, saying there exist fundamental problems, including the failure to examine individual circumstances and the lack of hearings for asylum seekers. The government stated that hearings were not necessary because ordering the migrants to travel to Holot does not violate their human rights.^[49]

On 22 September 2014, the High Court struck down the anti-infiltration law (under which the Holot facility operated) and ordered the state to close Holot within 90 days.^[50] The court addressed two measures: (1) whether to limit the detention of migrants, and (2) whether to close Holot. On both measures, the court sided with the petitioners (the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, ASSAF, Kav LaOved, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, and Amnesty International–Israel).^[51] The ruling said that conditions at the facility were an "unbearable violation of [their] basic rights, first and foremost the right to freedom and the right to dignity".^[50] Illegal migrants can no longer be detained for up to a year without trial.^[52] The court also criticized the government for passing an amendment that effectively preserved the same defect that led the court to cancel the amendment it replaced.^[53] Right-wing MKs vowed to introduce legislation to limit the powers of the court and change the method by which its judges were chosen.^[54] However, a spokeswoman for then–Justice Minister Tzipi Livni noted that any new legislation would be within the limits set by the court's ruling protecting the Africans' fundamental rights.^[52]

The vast majority of the roughly 54,000 African migrants remain free, largely concentrated in impoverished areas of southern Tel Aviv.^[19] The Tel Aviv municipality offers them aid, including welfare and education for their children.^[55]