Prime Minister Sharon has ordered Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki to prepare a plan to deport 50,000 illegal workers. Yitzchak Chazan, Director-General of the Labor and Welfare Ministry, told Arutz-7 today that there are approximately 150,000 illegal workers in Israel today, as well as another 100,000 legal workers with various visas and permits. \"This total of 250,000 happens to be the number of unemployed,\" Chazan said, \"thus that theoretically, if we would be able to have them all leave, we could solve the unemployment problem.\"
Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal objected: \"That is not quite accurate, since the foreign workers agree to take significantly less money than Israeli workers.\" Chazan responded, \"Foreign workers deserve to be paid as much as home-grown workers, but unfortunately some employers take advantage of the situation, and especially with the workers who are here illegally, to pay them less than what they would pay Israelis.\"
Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal objected: \"That is not quite accurate, since the foreign workers agree to take significantly less money than Israeli workers.\" Chazan responded, \"Foreign workers deserve to be paid as much as home-grown workers, but unfortunately some employers take advantage of the situation, and especially with the workers who are here illegally, to pay them less than what they would pay Israelis.\"