The Dominican Republic says it plans to expel as many as 10,000 Haitian migrants per week, regardless of a longstanding call from the United Nations to finish compelled returns to Haiti amid a surge in gang violence there.
Homero Figueroa, a Dominican presidential spokesman, stated on Wednesday that the “operation goals to scale back the extreme migrant populations detected in Dominican communities”.
Figueroa added that the expulsions to Haiti, which shares a border with the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, would start “instantly”.
The announcement comes simply days after the UN reported that no less than 3,661 individuals had been killed in Haiti within the first half of 2024 amid the “mindless” gang violence that has engulfed the nation.
Haitian leaders warned final week that they’re “nowhere close to profitable” the battle in opposition to the armed teams, which for months have been finishing up assaults and kidnappings throughout the capital of Port-au-Prince and in different components of the nation.
The violence has internally displaced more than 700,000 Haitians, based on UN figures, and almost half of the inhabitants — greater than 5.4 million individuals — additionally faces acute hunger.
Haiti has reeled from years of violence as armed teams — usually with ties to the nation’s political and enterprise leaders — have vied for management over territory.
However the state of affairs worsened dramatically on the finish of February, when the gangs launched assaults on prisons and different state establishments in Port-au-Prince.
The surge in violence prompted the resignation of Haiti’s unelected prime minister, the creation of the transitional presidential council and the deployment of the UN-backed multinational police deployment, led by Kenya.
However the mission — formally referred to as the Multinational Safety Assist Mission (MSS) — has been under-funded and its officers under-resourced.
To date, the deployment has carried out little to wrestle management away from the gangs, that are believed to manage about 80 % of Port-au-Prince.
The Dominican authorities stated it took the choice to expel Haitian migrants who wouldn’t have immigration standing within the nation in gentle of the worldwide group’s “slowness” in restoring stability in Haiti.
“We warned on the United Nations that both it and all of the international locations that had dedicated themselves [to helping Haiti] act responsibly in Haiti, or we’ll,” President Luis Abinader stated.
Abinader has taken a hardline in opposition to migration from Haiti, expelling 250,000 undocumented Haitians in 2023 alone.
The plan introduced on Wednesday would greater than double that quantity in a 12 months — theoretically exceeding the variety of Haitians truly dwelling within the Dominican Republic. Greater than 495,815 Haitians name the Dominican Republic dwelling, based on official statistics.
Rights teams have condemned the expulsions, accusing the Dominican authorities of enacting a racist immigration coverage that invokes a wider, historic pattern of anti-Haitian discrimination.
A majority of the inhabitants within the Dominican Republic identifies as blended race, whereas Haiti has a predominantly Black inhabitants.
Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic started en masse following the US occupation of Haiti in 1915. However whereas many Haitians have lived within the nation for many years, fear-mongering across the “Haitianisation” of Dominican society persists.
Some critics even accuse the Dominican authorities of racially profiling Black Dominicans in its expulsions.
Amid a wave of deportations in 2022, William Charpantier — a coordinator for MENAMIRD, a nationwide roundtable for migrants and refugees within the Dominican Republic — told Al Jazeera that “all those that seem like Haitians” have been being rounded up within the streets and detained.
“These deportations have resulted within the separation of households. Folks with legitimate paperwork have been deported, individuals who have been born right here within the Dominican Republic have been deported,” Charpantier stated on the time.
“These aren’t deportations. It’s persecution primarily based on race.”
Because the violence and instability in Haiti escalates, the UN’s refugee company (UNHCR) has urged governments around the world to not deport Haitians again to the nation.
“Haitians’ lives, security and freedom are threatened by a confluence of skyrocketing gang violence and human rights violations,” Elizabeth Tan, director of UNHCR’s division of worldwide safety, said in March.
“UNHCR reminds States of the crucial to make sure Haitians who might have worldwide refugee safety obtain it,” Tan stated. “We additionally reiterate our name to all States to not forcibly return individuals to Haiti, together with those that have had their asylum claims rejected.”
