Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, has been under siege for several months. According to reports, Some 200 gangs have taken control of more than 80 percent of the city. And the wave of violence has left residents with few options but to lock themselves in their homes or seek refuge in other cities or countries.
With such restrictions, and with the Biden administration’s intention to send back home Haitians intercepted en route to the United States, many seek to emigrate to the only country with which Haiti shares a land border: the Dominican Republic. But it’s not a bed of roses.
The chaos that has engulfed Haiti in recent months has caused the internal displacement of more than 360,000 people. At the same time, it has caused a wave of xenophobia in the Dominican Republic, where Haitians constitute a considerable minority.
“We will not suspend the deportations of Haitians. “We will continue to apply our laws and our Constitution.”
Anti-Haitian sentiment has also taken hold among politicians who in the midst of the elections advocated for stricter border regulations. The recently re-elected Dominican president, Luis Abinader, has made it clear that he intends to continue immigration policies that include the construction of a border wall and the placement of strategic checkpoints to prevent what his administration described as an “avalanche of illegal aliens.” , especially of Haitian nationality.”
An unfriendly neighbor
Now, as then, skin color has been used to identify those of Haitian descent. The Dominican Republic is a country that generally prides itself on its “mestizaje” in contrast to the “blackness” of Haiti. And Dominican immigration officials have regularly been accused of racially profiling blacks as foreigners, Haitians and illegals.
Anti-Black racism in the Dominican Republic is so egregious that in November 2022, the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo issued a travel advisory urging Black Americans to take precautions when traveling to the country due to the risk of being mistaken. with Haitians and unjustly detained.
The increase in deportations comes despite requests from human rights groups, which in March asked Dominican authorities to temporarily halt deportations of Haitian asylum seekers. In fact, human rights groups have long been cautiously monitoring the evolving situation in the country.
In 2013, constitutional amendments rescinded birthright citizenship in the Dominican Republic. This means that children of non-citizens born in the Dominican Republic between 1929 and 2010 are no longer eligible for Dominican citizenship. According to first estimates, just over 200,000 people became stateless.
Critics called the legislation racist, noting that, among other things, it appeared to violate Article 15, Sections 1 and 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It states that everyone has the right to a nationality and cannot be arbitrarily deprived of it.
Human rights groups have also raised concerns about the way Dominican authorities conduct immigration policy, with multiple reports of inhumane treatment of Haitians, such as the use of excessive force in raids, deadly chases and separations. of parents and children.
In April, videos circulated online revealing the conditions of the infamous detention center in the town of Haina, a place so contaminated by lead that it has been nicknamed the “Dominican Chernobyl.” In the images you can see dozens of Haitians lying on the ground in overcrowded conditions.
Indifference
This sentiment is driven by the belief that the Dominican Republic should be able to regulate its own immigration laws independently of the influence of other nation states. This is evident in the statements of politicians such as former President Leonel Fernández, who said in a journalistic interview that international interference in Dominican immigration policy reflects a lack of respect for the country’s sovereignty and self-determination.
The measures taken to repress Haitian immigrants have been accompanied by agitation by right-wing groups. One of these, the nationalist and conservative organization Antigua Dominican Order, has the stated goal of “reconquering” the Dominican Republic from the Haitians. The group has used its growing social media platform – it has 77,000 followers on Facebook, for example – to organize protests against Haitian immigration and the “imposition of the international community.”
This nativism that gives priority to Dominicans is echoed in the rhetoric of the country’s president. When asked by the BBC in April how the Dominican Republic can justify continuing to deport Haitians given its current crisis, Abinader responded: “The same way the United States and the Bahamas and all the other countries do.” And he added that his government would not consider offering refuge, even in the short term, to Haitians.
With Abinader’s re-election, the chances of Haitians affected by the crisis being welcomed on the other side of the border seem slimmer than ever.
DLIN VERAS
– THE CONVERSATION (**)
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