This morning (9th October), a large group of Sub Saharans, probably the 55 people arrested last week in the Sinaï (see article below) arrived on board of 3 microbuses and 1 police vehicule in el Qanater prison for men (north of Cairo).

It was easy to distinguish several minors among them. As many other migrants and asylum seekers arrested in Egypt, they will stay in detention until they get deported to their country of origin, a process that generally takes many years, both for security (especially for Eritreans) and economic reasons (deportees have to pay the cost of their deportation by themselves). With the new barrier built by the Israeli government on its southern border with Egypt, the number of foreigners trapped in Egyptian prisons will for sure increase dramatically. The arrival of democracy in Egypt has so far not benefited to the migrants residing or „in transit“ on the Egyptian territory …

The Egypt Independent, 1st October 2012

55 migrants arrested near Israeli border
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/55-migrants-arrested-near-israeli-border

Fifty-five migrants from three different groups were arrested while trying to illegally enter Israel through the Egyptian border, a security source said.

The source said a police patrol spotted 13 migrants near the international mark No. 50 in central Sinai, 26 near the international mark No. 80, and 16 near mark No. 17. All were arrested and are being detained in Arish Prison.

Among the detainees were nationals of Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, in addition to a man from Algeria.

The source said all detainees confessed they tried to cross into Israel to search for work and each one of them had to pay US$1,500 to find help in reaching Israel.

A large number of migrants coming from various countries in Africa try to illegally enter Israel through the Egypt-Israel border. Many of them are either arrested or shot by border guards.