Following complaints from Dominican citizens about new routes taken by many Haitians daily to go illegally to the Dominican Republic, the Dominican opposition pointed to the Dominican Minister of Defense Lieutenant-General Rubén Paulino Sem, accusing him of letting the Dominican territory be invaded by the Haitians.

On Monday, in a press conference, Minister Paulino Sem defended himself and assured that the Dominican border was controlled by the army, revealing that during the first half of 2017, 140,775 Haitians had been prevented from entering while they were trying to illegally crossing the Dominican border, an average of more than 700 attempts per day that were returned to Haiti. During this same period nearly 40,000 Haitians in irregular migratory situation were also repatriated to Haiti.

On Tuesday, 11 July, the Dominican Army expanded its control operations in different parts of the country : Greater Santo Domingo, the cities of Cibao and Linea Noroeste in some tourist areas such as Bavaro, Punta Cana, La Romana, San Pedro de Macoris and areas of Puerto Plata, Sosua, Cabarete where it was found a massive presence of Haitian. Several hundred of our irregular compatriots were arrested and taken to the Directorate General of Immigration to be repatriated to Haiti.

Some illegal foreigners of other nationalities (Chinese, Venezuelans, Canadian and Colombian among others) were also arrested during checks and will be repatriated to their respective countries, in collaboration with their respective embassies in the Dominican Republic.

In addition, since Monday in Santo Domingo and Santiago, the inspectors have arrested Haitians in irregular migratory situations, operating formal and informal businesses in the streets and avenues and Haitian women begging with young age children.

According to our information, our arrested compatriots, including minors after having been identified (biometrics) by the Dominican authorities, were transported by buses by the Migration services to various points on the border where they were handed over to the Haitian authorities .

Operations against irregular migrants will undoubtedly increase in the coming weeks and months due to the not seal of the Dominican border and a Haitian upsurge without valid document on the Dominican territory.

HL/ HaitiLibre