Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit on Sunday ordered the release of migrants currently held in the Saharonim detention facility in southern Israel.
According to a statement by the Population and Immigration Authority, the order followed the stalled negotiations between Israel and Uganda, which said it was considering taking some 500 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan facing deportation from Israel.
It was the first time the East African nation acknowledged it was in talks with Israel to reach such a deal.
"The State of Israel, working with other refugee managing organizations, has asked Uganda to allow about 500 Eritreans and Sudanese to relocate to Uganda," Uganda's Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Minister Musa Ecweru said in a statement Friday. "The government and ministry are positively considering the request."
Ecweru said "all refugees the world over" should be "voluntarily repatriated with strict observance and adherence to international law", but did not give further details on the possible deal.
On Sunday, Ugandan officials said no deal has been reached at this time.
Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett said, "As the government debates the issue, things are only getting worse. Only a determined action by the Israeli government would see illegal labor migrants leave Israel. I call on the prime minister to pass the relevant legislation. We will support any version he chooses as long as we can start removing the infiltrators from Israel."
About 4,000 migrants have left Israel for Rwanda and Uganda since 2013 under a voluntary program, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under pressure from his right-wing voter base to expel thousands more.
The Stop the Deportation campaign lambasted the government for again failing to reach a deal with Uganda.
"This is another day of humiliation for the Israeli government instead of a day of assuming responsibility. Today it was made clear that forced expulsion is no longer on the agenda. Even Third World countries are not willing to take part in such an inhumane move. It is embarrassing that in its 70th year, Israel has to get a lesson in morality from these countries," the group said in a statement.
The group urged Netanyahu to "accept the deal brokered by the United Nations' refugees' agency. The prime minister has to choose between giving the Israeli public real solutions or continuing to throw sand on their eyes and engage in incitement and widening the rift between the already disenfranchised populations of asylum seekers and the residents of south Tel Aviv. "
In January, Israel started handing out notices to illegal migrants from Eritrea and Sudan giving them three months to accept a plane ticket and a $3,500 grant and leave the country voluntarily, or face incarceration.
The government planned to start enforcing its deportation policy on April 1, but rights groups challenged the move and Israel's High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction to give more time for the petitioners to argue against the policy.
Opponents of the policy argue that the migrants would face danger, sometimes mortal danger if forced to return to Africa. Proponents, however, argue that the migrants are only in Israel to improve their employment prospects, and therefore do not qualify as refugees.
Official court documents said Israeli authorities have identified close to 8,000 Eritrean and Sudanese migrants it would potentially deport under a compulsory expulsion plan, initially targeting only male migrants.
On Thursday, the court extended the injunction it had issued on the government's deportation plan and gave the state until noon Sunday to update it on the deal. Mendelblit's order came after the state failed to meet the High Court's deadline.
Meanwhile, the government is moving forward with an attempt to legislate new policy that would circumvent the High Court ruling.
Kulanu leader Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said that passing an exception clause, which allows the Knesset to pass regular laws that essentially contradicts benchmark legislation with a majority vote of at least 61 MKs, would be in breach of the agreement his party signed when it joined the coalition.
Kahlon said his party would oppose any attempt to pass exception clauses but has hinted that he may be willing to support it with respect to the court's ruling on the illegal migrants' issue.
Coalition insiders said that while the disagreements within the coalition about the exception clause were serious, it was unclear whether they would evolve into a political crisis that may lead to early elections.
Mendelblit has asked to address the next meeting of coalition faction leaders to present his position on the matter, which is likely to play a considerable role in Netanyahu's decision on any future legislative move on the issue.
