In November, more than 10,000 Haitians were deported back to Haiti from the neighboring Dominican Republic, local press reports said on Dec. 12.
According to the Haiti Libre website, 5,272 Haitian nationals were detained during operations in several Dominican provinces, declared to not have proper migration papers, and then deported back to Haiti.
Another 4,757 were returned to the border while trying to enter illegally into Dominican territory.
During 2018, more than 120,000 Haitians were deported from the DR, a figure that, according to experts, should grow after the Dominican government’s refusal to sign the Global Compact for Migration, a non-binding document that seeks to improve management of migratory flows, including measures against trafficking in persons and the separation of families.
According to Santo Domingo, accepting the Compact would require commitments by the State that could undermine its ability to enforce its migration norms and effectively implement the policies that compliance with those standards requires.
The situation could also affect the more than 239,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic who could not complete their documentation for the country’s new Foreign Regularization Plan.
Several human rights and returnee aid organizations urge both the Haitian and Dominican governments to establish a binational dialogue to resolve the migration crisis.
