The government says the migrants are "infiltrators" looking for work rather than asylum, but there is a growing liberal backlash against the plan, including from rabbis, a small group of survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and ordinary people who say Israel should show greater compassion to the migrants.
The first eviction notices were handed out on Sunday and job advertisements for immigration inspectors to implement the deportation plan have been posted on government websites.
Rights groups advocating on behalf of the migrants say many fled abuse and war and their expulsion, even to a different country in Africa, would endanger them further.
"I don't know what to do. Rwanda, Uganda are not my countries, what will a third country help me?" said Eritrean Berihu Ainom, after receiving an eviction notice on Sunday.
