Dominican Republic Prepares For Deportation As Deadline Nears

The Dominican Republic is set to deport thousands of undocumented immigrants as the deadline for applying for legal status nears.

The problem of workers entering countries illegally is common within the region. A similar situation happened when US lawmakers attempted to reform its immigration policies to deal with undocumented immigrants. Dominican authorities offered a regularization plan that allows undocumented workers to obtain legal status in the country. However, critics have said the plan was designed to fail.

The deadline for undocumented immigrants to register under the regularization plan is on Wednesday. If they are unable to register, they will be deported. Foreign Minister Andres Navarro said it will be necessary for undocumented immigrants to return to their home country.

Dominican Republic authorities said over 200,000 undocumented immigrants have already registered. But, a good number may not be able to meet the deadline. Since most of the foreigners in the country are Haitians, accusations of racial prejudice have emerged.

Dominican Republic Prepares For Regularization Deadline - image credit: npr.org

The immigration reform comes as Dominicans with Haitian descent are currently struggling for their status in the country. A court ruling in 2013 removed the citizenship of Dominicans with parents who were undocumented immigrants. Another law that was supposed to deal with the status of these individuals is also controversial.

The regularization law is aimed at providing “a window of opportunity” for workers who entered the country illegally to contribute without having to hide. It also allows them to obtain legal protection from the government of the Dominican Republic. However, an immigrant said he still has to obtain his documents even after working on it for fifteen days. Another immigrant said he wanted to get a birth certificate to be able to apply, but he has yet to be processed.

Human rights observers do not find the situation surprising since many of the undocumented immigrants in the country do not have documents from their home countries. Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights programs director Angelita Baeyens said around 96 percent of the applicants do not have passports. Employers have also refused to provide certificates of employment to these undocumented workers.

On the other hand, Haiti is preparing for a flood of deportees after the deadline under the regularization plan passes. Two repatriation centers have been opened along the border to process undocumented immigrants who are going to be deported

As the deadline looms, individuals born in the Dominican Republic are also worried. Even though a law was created to handle Dominicans stripped of citizenship, Dominicans born to undocumented immigrants fear being included once deportation raids start.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday June 17 2015, 10:43 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0