This past Wednesday was the deadline to file proper residency paperwork or face deportation in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic announced it's plan to give its estimated 500,000 undocumented immigrants, most from Haiti, immigration status or deport them.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the small island of Hispanola in the Caribbean Sea. The border between these two former colonies was typically porous with many of the Haitian poor crossing over for work. The Dominican Republic and Haiti have both shared a long and often brutal history. In the 1930's, the Parsley Massacre under dictator Rafael Trujillo occurred which oversaw the ethnic cleansing of 20,000 Haitians from the Dominican Republic. After the tragic earthquake that occurred in Haiti in 2010, many saw a way to alter relations between the two countries. The Dominican Republic immediately came to the aid of Haiti. However, relations between the two neighbor island countries again took a sharp turn as the Dominican Republic book in place it's citizenship law:
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the small island of Hispanola in the Caribbean Sea. The border between these two former colonies was typically porous with many of the Haitian poor crossing over for work. The Dominican Republic and Haiti have both shared a long and often brutal history. In the 1930's, the Parsley Massacre under dictator Rafael Trujillo occurred which oversaw the ethnic cleansing of 20,000 Haitians from the Dominican Republic. After the tragic earthquake that occurred in Haiti in 2010, many saw a way to alter relations between the two countries. The Dominican Republic immediately came to the aid of Haiti. However, relations between the two neighbor island countries again took a sharp turn as the Dominican Republic book in place it's citizenship law:
“retroactively denies Dominican nationality to anyone born after 1929 who does not have at least one parent of Dominican blood.”
An estimated 210,000 people have been stripped of their Dominican citizenship because of their parents’ immigration status. So those born and raised in the Dominican Republic have lost their citizenship and are stateless for all intends and purposes because some have never even crossed the border into Haiti.
This ruling has also affected hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who have worked manual labor in the Dominican Republic all the while trying to obtain proper residence. Haitian Jaquenol Martinez has worked in the Dominican sugar cane fields since 1963 in Santo Domingo and still has not been approved for proper citizenship. In effect with this ruling and the difficulty in getting approved Martinez could be deported. The government has approved fewer than 5,000 of the 288,000 applications it received over the 18 months since the program went into effect. Some applications have even been denied due to misplaced commas.
This ruling has also affected hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who have worked manual labor in the Dominican Republic all the while trying to obtain proper residence. Haitian Jaquenol Martinez has worked in the Dominican sugar cane fields since 1963 in Santo Domingo and still has not been approved for proper citizenship. In effect with this ruling and the difficulty in getting approved Martinez could be deported. The government has approved fewer than 5,000 of the 288,000 applications it received over the 18 months since the program went into effect. Some applications have even been denied due to misplaced commas.
Credit: Dieu Nalio Chery / AP
Some applications have even been denied due to misplaced commas.
“While officials have said there will be no mass round-ups, authorities have prepared 12 buses and opened processing centers along the border with Haiti to expedite repatriations,” the AP reported.
Written By: Lauren B. I @laurenb
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