NewsWhore
02-24-2011, 04:50 PM
For the first time, the Department of Migration has taken action against a known ring of people smugglers that sent babies and small children to key city street corners to beg. Migration director general Sigfrido Pared Perez announced the arrest of 84 illegal Haitians, 10 of whom are being accused of directing a group that exploited 44 Haitian children, including 10 babies under the age of one, as reported in Listin Diario.
Pared Perez said the arrest follows a year of intelligence efforts.
The Migration authorities raided the home where the children were kept at Calle Kennedy in Los Rieles, Los Alcarrizos. Prosecutor Office representatives and Armed Forces intelligence units took part in the raid.
Meanwhile, Listin Diario also reports that Border Security Corps (Cesfront) in Dajabon, on the border with Haiti, announced the rescue of 12 Haitian children who were being smuggled from Haiti to the DR together with another 150 illegal adult Haitian migrants. In Dajabon, Cesfront confiscated two vehicles and six motorcycles used to smuggle the people. Several Haitians and Dominicans involved in the people smuggling ring were arrested, as reported in Listin Diario.
The Fernandez administration has been criticized for failing to take action against what is an overt people-smuggling operation involving beggars on street corners, primarily in Santo Domingo and Santiago. Diario Libre did some of the groundwork for the authorities and published a story in October 2010 showing how the children would take buses from Los Rieles and El Chucho in Los Alcarrizos to their posts on city intersections and how they always travelled on public transport in groups of five or six. Every 15 minutes another group was organized and left at the key corners.
Migration Director Vice-Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez reported that the babies were rented out for RD$300 a day or more, depending on the streets where they were going to be placed, as reported in Diario Libre.
The Migration investigation found that the gang members passed themselves off as calling card salespeople or fruit vendors to supervise the children, according to Pared Perez.
Yesterday's press conference to make the announcement of the Santo Domingo people- smuggling ring was attended by Santo Domingo prosecutors and National Council for Children (Conani) representatives, the Army's J2 intelligence division, the National Investigations Department and International Organization for Migration (IOM) representatives and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)
Pared Perez said the arrest follows a year of intelligence efforts.
The Migration authorities raided the home where the children were kept at Calle Kennedy in Los Rieles, Los Alcarrizos. Prosecutor Office representatives and Armed Forces intelligence units took part in the raid.
Meanwhile, Listin Diario also reports that Border Security Corps (Cesfront) in Dajabon, on the border with Haiti, announced the rescue of 12 Haitian children who were being smuggled from Haiti to the DR together with another 150 illegal adult Haitian migrants. In Dajabon, Cesfront confiscated two vehicles and six motorcycles used to smuggle the people. Several Haitians and Dominicans involved in the people smuggling ring were arrested, as reported in Listin Diario.
The Fernandez administration has been criticized for failing to take action against what is an overt people-smuggling operation involving beggars on street corners, primarily in Santo Domingo and Santiago. Diario Libre did some of the groundwork for the authorities and published a story in October 2010 showing how the children would take buses from Los Rieles and El Chucho in Los Alcarrizos to their posts on city intersections and how they always travelled on public transport in groups of five or six. Every 15 minutes another group was organized and left at the key corners.
Migration Director Vice-Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez reported that the babies were rented out for RD$300 a day or more, depending on the streets where they were going to be placed, as reported in Diario Libre.
The Migration investigation found that the gang members passed themselves off as calling card salespeople or fruit vendors to supervise the children, according to Pared Perez.
Yesterday's press conference to make the announcement of the Santo Domingo people- smuggling ring was attended by Santo Domingo prosecutors and National Council for Children (Conani) representatives, the Army's J2 intelligence division, the National Investigations Department and International Organization for Migration (IOM) representatives and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)