Jerusalem ( CNN ) -- Israeli authorities said Tuesday they detained 240 illegal migrants as part of a controversial plan to deport some of the thousands of Africans who have flooded the country illegally in recent years . Another 300 illegal migrants volunteered Tuesday to return to their country of origin , Israel 's immigration ministry said . All the migrants detained Tuesday are Sudanese . `` We are sending the infiltrators , migrants , back to their homes like all countries in the West , in Europe , in the USA act when dealing with migrants , '' Interior Minister Eli Yishai said on Tuesday . `` Israel is acting according to international law and international charters dealing with infiltrators and migrants that come into the country against the law , '' he said . `` We are acting according to the same law as the United States and Europe . '' The issue of illegal African migrants has been of growing concern in the country in recent months . According to government records , more than 59,000 illegal African immigrants have entered the country in recent years through its southern border with Egypt . More than 2,000 new migrants have been reported over the past month . Some residents of southern Tel Aviv neighborhoods , where there is a large concentration of Africans , have blamed their new neighbors for increasing crime and suffocating the infrastructure and public services . Some also complain the illegal immigration is changing the fabric of Israel . Several hundred Sudanese immigrants rallied Sunday in Tel Aviv , demanding refugee status . Last week , an Israeli court approved a government plan to deport 1,500 African migrants . Many Israeli refugee agencies and officials are pushing against those plans and calling on the government to allow the immigrants to stay . Yishai said Israel is treating the detained migrants `` with honor '' but must return them to their country of origin . `` We are dealing with a porous southern border opposite Africa , '' he said . `` We have to close it , and we are closing it , and everyone who comes looking for work must be returned to their country and we are doing it in an honorable way . There is a grant to help the person in the first period that he returns to his country and his home . '' Most of the immigrants come from Eritrea , Sudan and South Sudan . Some of them have refugee status and hold temporary permits to remain in the country , but Israel does not recognize the status of most of them and says it is looking for ways to send them back to their home countries . CNN 's Elise Labott and Michael Schwartz contributed to this report .
240 illegal migrants are detained and 300 others volunteer to leave . The issue of illegal African migrants is of growing concern in Israel . The interior minister says the deportations are lawful .