Over 250,000 Haitians and non-citizens of the Dominican Republic are facing deportation as officials in the Domincan Republic are scheduled to resume deporting non-citizens without legal residency in the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic has mass deported non-citizens, mainly Haitians who come to their neighboring country for work, for decades. Last year the Dominican government declared that non-citizens who have been in the country before 2011 are the only ones eligible for legal residency. Some feel as though this is the country’s latest attempt to rid itself of Haitians.
According to FOX News, “Army Gen. Ruben Paulino said his agency, with help from the military, will begin patrolling neighborhoods with large numbers of migrants Thursday, following the expiration of a deadline for non-citizens without legal residency to register to adjust their status under an initiative begun last year.” This is in direct contradiction to claims stating that there would not be any mass roundups. However, it has been reported that there are currently 12 buses and processing centers along the border of Haiti and D.R. where people will be exiled.
That registration period had been suspended since June 2014 when it was first created but now Haitians and other migrants are rushing to meet the new deadline that is on Wednesday. The only problem is, many of the jobs obtained by the immigrants do not supply them with the necessary documentation to prove that they have been here before 2011. “You still have to bring more papers. It’s always hard, but we’ll see,” bricklayer Aime Morette told ABC News whiling waiting with over 100 others trying to escape deportation.
With over 250,000 people who have actually started the application process only 10,000 have met the requirements. To add insult to injury of those 10,000 people only 3,000 have actually received their permits.
Another issue for Haitians is establishing identity. Haitian government has made it hard and expensive to gain proper birth certification as well as other identity documentation within its country. One man who has been waiting for his birth certificate for months told ABCNews, “They always tell me it will come but they give me nothing,” he said.
This case has spark controversy all over the world but it is not the first time the Domincan Republic has been in the spot light for doing this. Back in 2013, their Supreme Court ruled that people born in the country to non-citizens after 1929 did not qualify for citizenship. This left thousands of people without the citizenship that they thought they once had. Since then the Dominican government said that there are plans in place to restore the nationality for more than 50,000 people who were affected by the ruling.
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Sources Sited: ABC News
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