Haiti’s foreign minister had on Monday condemned a Doninican Republic policy (announced last week) to deport tens of thousands of migrants back to Haiti, where gang violence is inciting a deadly humanitarian crises.
The Dominican Republic shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti and had just last week, announced thar it would deport at least 10,000 migrants per week who were in the country illegally, a sharp increase.
So far this October, the Dominican Republic has repatriated over 9,000 people, according to the nation’s migration agency said in a statement on Monday.
A Dominican official who pleaded anonymity had claimed that over 4,900 of the total were Haitians and Dominican agency said that it was carrying out the deportations while still respecting human rights.
The Dominican government has blamed Haiti’s turmoil for crime and security problems on the Dominican part of the island, stating that it has lost patience with the measured progress of an international security mission directed to help resolve Haiti’s crisis.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has asked countries in the region to stop deporting Haitians home to where a danger is rife and prone.
If the Dominican Republic follows through on its plan, the number deported in a year would sharply increase from over 200,000 Haitians – which is the number of forcibly returned people from last year.
