DOMINICAN-IMMIGRATION/MEDINA Dominican president defends country's migrant policy changes

Record ID: 146994

  • Title: DOMINICAN-IMMIGRATION/MEDINA Dominican president defends country's migrant policy changes
  • Date: 14th July 2015
  • Summary: JUANA MENDEZ, HAITI (RECENT - JUNE 22, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GENERAL VIEW OF RIO MASACRE THAT DIVIDES DOMINICAN AND HAITIAN BORDER VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CROSSING THE RIVER CARRYING THEIR BELONGINGS PEOPLE SITTING BY RIVER SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (JULY 13, 2015) (REUTERS) DOMINICAN PRESIDENT DANILO MEDINA SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS (S
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4M6NKTG835JBSGRD2NNPBTJ59
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Dominican President Danilo Medina defended on Monday (July 1) changes in his country's nationality and immigration policies that could trigger a mass exodus of migrants.
    Those migration and nationality policy changes, along with a 2013 constitutional court ruling, have stripped children of Haitian migrants born in the Dominican Republic of their Dominican nationality, rights groups say. This means they have no identity documents and are stateless.
    While the Dominican government says the legal changes aim to tackle illegal migration from neighbouring Haiti, human rights groups say the move is rooted in long-standing racism and xenophobia in the Dominican Republic towards darker-skinned Haitians.
    The international community has raised the alarm that the policies could trigger a wave of migration into neighbouring Haiti, and the policies have been criticized by international bodies such as Caricom and the Organization of American States, which recently sent a fact-finding mission to visit both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
    Medina said all can visit and see the situation for themselves.
    "They should say the truth. All we have to do here is tell the truth because there's nothing hidden here. Absolutely nothing. That's why the country's doors are open for anyone who wants to come and observe to come and observe. But they must tell the truth without prejudice. That's all we hope for," he said.
    The Dominican government set up a registration program that would grant two-year temporary migrant status to those who could meet requirements.
    Santo Domingo has defended the move, with the government reporting that more than 210,000 people have registered under the program. Those deemed eligible could earn temporary migrant status for two years.
    But residents say the new documentation process is expensive and extensive. Reuters has spoken to Dominican residents who said they have presented officials with documents only to have them change what they want.
    Some also said they have requested documents from Haitian authorities and have been kept waiting for a year with no response.
    In the past several weeks, tens of thousands of people of Haitian origin living in the Dominican Republic have moved to Haiti because they cannot meet the new Dominican documentation requirements.
    Medina estimated his government would begin handing out documents next week.
    "We need to hand documents to the people who became legalised, and there's a process to that document. I think we should start handing out documents next week because I don't want there to be a mistake in which a person, who became legalised but doesn't have the document because we didn't hand it to him, runs the risk of leaving the country involuntarily. But we're in the middle of that, we're doing the work. As soon as the work of preparing the documents that are going to be handed to them, I think there are 90,000 who have passports in which a visa ribbon will be placed and others will be handed a card personally to each of them. And that's the process we're in," he said.
    With the UNHCR estimating that there are more than 200,000 "stateless" people, with many of them not even recognised in Haiti, the High Commission for Refugees has warned the exodus of migrants on an already strained Haiti could be devastating.
    The Dominican army has 2,000 troops ready to help coordinate the removal of people who fail to meet legal requirements to remain in the country. Four "welcome centres" are being set up to receive undocumented people.
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