Haitian Migration Controls

Haitian migration controls

After a year of almost open-door policy following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, some controls are being imposed on illegal Haitian migration in the DR. The Army says that it is on the lookout for an estimated 1,000 criminals who escaped from Haitian jails during the earthquake, who might be living in the DR.

Listin Diario reports that the first checks at bus stops and documents requests were carried out this week. The Police says the searches have produced about 100 known criminals who have been sent back to Haiti after their capture.

The DR-Haiti border is 354kms long. Corruption at the border and along the roads to Dominican cities from Haiti has enabled hundreds of thousands of Haitians to move to the DR.

Army chief, Major General Carlos Rivera Portes said that the operation seeks to reduce people smuggling, primarily to tourist areas in Bavaro and Punta Cana, where thousands of Haitians have moved in search of work in the tourism or construction sector. The high financial cost and pressures from labor contractors and foreign campaigners have kept repatriation down over the years.

El Caribe reports that the Ministry of the Armed Forces ordered the Army, the Joint Commands, the Border Security Corps (Cesfront), and military intelligence agencies and the Police to increase efforts to seek information on the people smugglers.

These operations follow sanitary controls ordered by the Ministry of Public Health as it seeks to reduce the incidence of cholera in the DR. News reports have carried stories of pressure now being exercised by neighborhood groups that are concerned about the concentrations of Haitians living without sanitation.