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James, a well-built man who looks younger than his 45 years, is knocking on doors of every clothing and shoe store amid the peep shows and mas- sage parlors of this dilapidated section of Tel Aviv, hoping to find any job that will pay for a ticket home. But work is scarce and time is run- ning out: In October, Israeli police plan to step up deportations of illegal foreign workers, and James' work per- mit expired six months ago. "I want to leave the country," he says. But he adds, "I don't have enough money for a ticket. I don't want somebody to dump me in a prison. I'm willing to work for my ticket or I'll go home immediately if the government pays." Until recently, there were some 250,000 foreign workers in Israel, about 100,000 of them legal. Israeli officials say a decision to stop renewing permits has reduced the number of legal foreign laborers to about 75,000. Starting next month, Israel plans to deport 1,000 illegal workers each -month, after expelling 500 per month during the past year. In 1999, authori- ties hope to deport 2,000 workers a month, and they say they hope to double that number eventually. The drive to deport foreign workers stems from public criticism that their swelling numbers, against a backdrop of rising unemployment, are creating a social time bomb. Activists on behalf of foreign work- ers say the deportation policy has been accompanied by racist rhetoric of racism. Official Labor Ministry press releas- es have compared the expulsion of for- eign workers to "holiday cleaning" or "burning the chametz," the ritual of burning bread and other leavened products before Passover. In addition, activists say setting up deportation camps is a cruel way to treat people who were let in by the state, who were often exploited by employers and who have contributed to the economy by doing jobs that most Israelis avoid. Israel began importing workers en masse during 1993, when prolonged closures of the West Bank and Gaza Strip prevented Palestinians from working in Israel. Before the closures, Palestinians filled menial jobs in the construction, agriculture and service. Encouraged by Israeli policies, workers arrived from developing coun- tries all over the world. In Tel Aviv's dingy pedestrian mall of Neve Sha'anan, where lonely foreign work- ers pass their free time nursing beers and thinking of home, a hand-written sign on an international telephone call center advertises rates to more than 20 developing countries, ranging from Romania to Ghana to Thailand. Since their arrival in Israel, abuse of foreign workers has reached epidemic proportions. Many building contrac- tors house laborers in cramped condi- tions, often a dozen to a small room in wall-to-wall bunk beds. Although they are paid the legal minimum wage, workers are often charged exor- bitant rates. In the months before a foreign worker returns home, many employers withhold wages. And most building companies illegally confiscate pass- ports from "legal" workers when they arrive, to guarantee that they cannot change jobs. But there is little reason for such action because according to Israeli law, a legal foreign worker may not change employers. If he does, he automatical- ly becomes an illegal worker. "In Israel, .it is actually better for a worker to be illegal than legal," says Hanna Zohar, director of Kay Laoved, a hotline that provides legal assistance to distressed foreign workers. "Illegal workers are not bound to an employer. At least nobody takes their passports, and they can move from one employer to another if they are treated badly." Zohar objects "Somebody let these people into the country. The Israeli economy has profited from them," she says. "They are not criminals and do not deserve to be treated like criminals." Zohar, of the worker's hotline, says the state has yet to prove that it is cracking down on employers with the same resolve that it is cracking down on foreign workers. "If there were seri- ous sanctions against employers, there would be no work for illegal workers, and they would leave the country on their own." ❑