As Refugees From Haiti Linger, Dominicans’ Good Will Fades

Some Haitians are being paid to leave the Dominican Republic.
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: August 30, 2011

CHENE, Dominican Republic — They have been blamed for spreading cholera, taking jobs and driving up crime, and now, with memories of the earthquake and the bonhomie it generated rapidly fading, this country is taking action: it is deporting Haitian refugees, turning them away from the border and generally making their lives difficult.
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Benie Boner was photographed and fingerprinted last month in Chene, Dominican Republic, as part of the International Organization for Migration's project to help Haitian refugees repatriate.
The police and military near the border, with little more to go on than darker skin color and a failure to produce identification, have stopped cars and buses and forced them to Haiti, human rights groups say. The Dominicans also are using a new law to deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants and deport people who had been born and lived here for years, advocacy groups contend.

The deportations are a sign of impatience with the limping recovery in Haiti and the waning international sympathy for its enduring troubles. Haiti and its international donors are far behind in helping the hundreds of thousands still living in makeshift camps and the millions without formal jobs, a crisis worsened by a political stalemate that has blocked Haiti’s new president, Michel Martelly, from forming a new government more than 100 days after taking office.

“It’s kind of an unsolvable issue,” said Robert Maguire, a Haiti scholar at George Washington University. “The truth is when Haitians leave, to the Dominican Republic and other places, they tend to do well or at least better than in Haiti, so they keep leaving.”

Several countries bestowed an effective grace period on Haitian migrants and refugees after the earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, but that appears to be ending. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently urged countries to reverse a new wave of deportations to Haiti because conditions remain precarious there.

Haiti “cannot yet ensure adequate protection or care especially for some vulnerable groups in case of return,” the statement said.

Deportees have also come from Jamaica and the Bahamas, according to aid organizations in Haiti. The United States resumed deporting Haitians several months after the quake, and American immigration officials say they expect to deport some 700 this year, focusing on people convicted of crimes.

Dominican officials say they have borne the brunt of both quake refugees and recent economic migrants, adding to a steady flow of people from Haiti who have slipped through the porous border for decades to cut sugar cane, harvest coffee beans, work construction and do other low-wage jobs.

Last week, José Ricardo Taveras, the nation’s new immigration director, a member of a political party known for its hard line on immigration, lashed out at the United Nations for failing to slow the influx. Last month, he cited estimates of the 500,000 or more Haitians in this country, telling local journalists that “nobody can resist an invasion of that nature” and that thousands of Haitians had been deported.

Right after the earthquake, the Dominican Republic, a nation with a history of both conflict and cooperation with Haiti, its poorer sibling on the island of Hispaniola, was among the first to offer aid. It sent teams to assess the damage and deliver food and medicine, eased visa requirements to allow the injured into Dominican hospitals and opened staging areas for relief shipments.

The good will was a welcome departure from the notorious low points between the neighbors — most notably the massacre of thousands of Haitians by the Dominican military in 1937 — and raised hopes of a tighter bond.

But the unemployment rate is high here — at about 14 percent last year, it is among the highest in Latin America — and cholera, which has killed nearly 6,000 in Haiti since October, has killed more than 90 in the Dominican Republic, many of them Haitian migrants.

This spring, banners sprang up in Santiago, Mr. Taveras’s hometown, calling on Haitians to go home. Protests erupted over the refugees’ presence, and a number of migrants fled.

“We are defending our sovereignty because Dominican manpower has been practically eliminated in construction,” Juan Francisco Consuegra, a community leader there, told reporters during a demonstration.

The tension became pitched enough that the International Organization for Migration offered a way out: paying Haitians $50 apiece, plus additional relocation assistance, to go home willingly. More than 1,500 have gone back through the program.

“Anything is better than the conditions we are in now,” said Bernier Noel, who registered to leave. The earthquake flattened his house in Haiti. Now he cannot wait to return.

Mr. Noel arrived here with friends a few months after the earthquake, after hearing that jobs and money were plentiful. He lives in a lean-to, bathes in bug-infested water and picks coffee beans at an unrelenting pace under an unforgiving sun for about $3 a day.

Never did he imagine that the devastation he saw in Haiti would seem a step up, but at least there are friends willing to take him in while he tries to revive a meager business selling shoes on the street.

Dominican officials said they had gone out of their way to assuage the crisis in Haiti. The deportations, they insist, are aimed at recent arrivals and, in the case of numerous children found to have been smuggled in to beg or work as prostitutes, have been done with the help of nongovernmental organizations.

Alejandra Hernández, the minister counselor at the Dominican Embassy in Washington, said Dominican health authorities spent more than $11 million for emergency aid in the month after the earthquake, and $27 million in 2010. But refugees are now an economic burden, Ms. Hernández said, using health, police and other services.

Their arrival “follows a long-established pattern of economic migration, which for years has placed great demands on our country’s capacity,” she said, noting that in the first half of 2010, one-sixth of all live births in her country’s public hospitals were to Haitian mothers.

For Haitians in the Dominican Republic, life is getting tougher, which may be the point.

Gabriel G. Teodoro, 31, said he lost his job as a messenger at a law firm because he could not renew his national identity card. Although born in the Dominican Republic — and ignorant of the Haitian language or culture — he was turned away at the immigration office under the new law because his parents were illegal immigrants, Mr. Teodoro said.

“This country benefits from our labor, but I am being denied because of my Haitian heritage,” he said. His is one of dozens of cases human rights advocates are appealing.

On a recent morning here, a stream of Haitian migrants walked out from their hovels in the brush to fill a church and register to leave under the International Organization for Migration’s program.

Pedite François came clutching his 14-month-old daughter, Cedita. “It is hard to find work,” he said. “A day without work is a day without food.”

haitians that have entered our land or have otherwise over extended their stay should be deported forthwith. It's rare that we can find a punishment that fits the crime so perfectly. I myself do not employ haitians in any capacity and have frowned on family members that do, that are in DR illegally. Our island is in a vacuum despite what most may think, thus, our language, customs small idiosyncrasies are at risk and are just a few elections away from being one big mash-up-so to speak.

As any other sovereign nation we have the right to defend our borders. As a nation that depends heavily on tourist money, we must define our intentions for the next 100 years, is that to look just as haiti looks today? in more ways than one? if so then the "dollars" will dry out and chaos is just around the corner.

500 years later and still the poorest nation of the western hemisphere- in 2099 odds are it will be the same as it is today, if not worse, based on their track record.

mi hija no te cases con un arrancao, que nada bueno sale de ahi.

DD your thoughts are interesting and appreciated

One salient fact that puts all in proper perspective: Total human population in Hispaniola is greater than 20 million, the rest of the Caribbean less than 20 million

So on an island less than half the size of Cuba, we have more people than the rest of the Caribbean put together Unless Dominicans wake up we will become a larger version 2.0 of Haiti And majority rule will be the ticket to our demise. If what DirectorioDominicano states are accurate, and many of the new born are Haitians in many parts of DR, than it may take but two decades before these are eligible to vote

The population bomb in PR was neutered by a combination of industrialization (Boot Strap Operation), mass migration to the USA-especially of the lower classes, and strong anti-population measures, including the use of sterilization Strong infrastructural development and mass educational achievement were also key factors in driving the numbers down.

Why am I not too hopeful that Haiti will have the same considerations

Sad, but the DR needs to take this Mega-problem and not think it will somehow go away anytime soon. Only a sensible international effort to allow more Haitians to seek their future outside Haiti and the island of Hispaniola will work in the long-run. Al minimum 250,000 exist visas per year will suffice, although 500,000 per year will turn the corner and stop the population time bomb far quicker.

A Haiti structured around 4-5 million people will be far more likely sustainable over the long run than one headed for 13-15 million people

a quote from the article:

"The Dominicans also are using a new law to deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants and deport people who had been born and lived here for years, advocacy groups contend."

This is simply a failure of journalism because first the law is very clear and sure is not new but who would expect a fair assessment of the one sided view the USA media has played in the case of this island's problem.

Regardless of if that quote is accurate regarding what that Law states and when it was put into application, Dominicans of Haitian descent ARE denied of their citizenship based on their Haitian heritage. The US media may not be always accurate, but the fact of the matter is its NOT just the US media, its the entire International community that has been paying attention to whats going on, so clearly there has to be SOME validity to it. To presume that 100% of the attention garnered is ALL based on lies and misinformation is not realistic nor reasonable. Reports, studies, investigations and documentaries are coming out more and more and they are NOT just done by Americans but DOMINICANS too.

The immigration is a very large issue and there are many victims of it on both sides of the border. But don't act like ALL hands clean on the Dominican side either. MANY Governments share responsibility for the issue - Haitian, Dominican, American and others. Regardless of how many Haitians are there now illegally, you and I both well know that the VAST majority of them came to get jobs. That would inevitable imply that somebody GAVE them the jobs. Even if you completely subtract the horrible sugar-cane industry (especially in its former 'glory'), you still have hundreds of thousands of Haitians who PAID their way across the border and who were hired and given jobs IN the Dominicans Republic despite the fact that they were illegal!

The Government in Haiti has not come to grips with its immigration issue, and the Dominican Government can not resist the temptation of cheap labor, simultaneously 'vendiendo la patria' that they CLAIM to love and work for. So please, be realistic and fair. The US has its own immigration issues with Mexico (among other people of other Nations who come illegally to seek better opportunities...including Dominicans) and immigration is a tough issue to deal with.

The problem is that the Dominican Government (and Haiti) has sat by in negligence reaping all the economic benefits for themselves and their business partners, allowing the problem to grow to the point of critical mass, and now instead of approaching the issue in fairness, they take the lazy and ignorant way out by composing Laws that target Dominicans of Haitians descent, and deporting Haitians randomly without ANY type of established procedure, documentation or consistency, THAT is why the US and International community is paying attention. They have NO intention on picking on or demeaning the sovereignty of the Dominican Republic. Logically if the US REALLY wanted to harm the Dominican Republic all it would have to do is stop tourism and/or apply the SAME type of Laws towards Dominicans who are not legal in the US.

Yet the question begs to be asked: Why those people don't present every one of those "thousands upon thousands" of cases into the forefront? Why have all those organizations only brought forth ONLY 122 cases? Doesn't this tells you that the problem is being blown out of proportions?

By the way, this is what the Central Electoral Board have decided about the 122 cases:

Respuesta. Roberto Rosario afirma organismo garantiza derecho a nombre
13 Septiembre 2011, 8:58 PM
La JCE autoriza la expedición de actas a 49 hijos de haitianos
Son de los 122 que alegadamente les negaban nacionalidad

Santo Domingo.-La Junta central Electoral (JCE) autorizó la expedición de 49 actas de nacimiento a descendientes de haitianos nacidos en el país y que carecían de documentación.

La información la ofreció el presidente de la Junta central Electoral, Roberto Rosario Márquez, al concluir la reunión del Pleno de la JCE, quien precisó que esas actas, que se encuentran “libres de impedimento para su expedición”, forman parte del grupo de 122 personas que alegadamente ese organismo les negaba la nacionalidad y el derecho al nombre, según denunciaron varias organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos.

La denuncia fue hecha en diciembre pasado por la Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, la Red de Encuentro DomínicoHaitiano Jacques Viau y el Movimiento de Mujeres Domínico-Haitianas.

También en el Departamento de Estado norteamericano se había hecho similar denuncia. Rosario agregó que no han tramitado 22 de los expedientes por falta de la documentación de soporte, otros 18 están en investigación por la Dirección de Inspectoría, 23 actas fueron inhabilitadas y están en proceso de transcripción del Libro de Extranjería por tratarse de hijos de extranjeros en condición irregular.

Dijo que ocho fueron suspendidas por falsedad de datos y están pendientes de fallo en la Justicia ordinaria, y sobre las 40 restantes solicitaron a los denunciantes los datos sobre la documentación de los padres. Rosario precisó que la JCE garantiza el derecho al nombre y la identidad en el país, pero advirtió que no mediante violaciones.

source: http://www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2011/9/13/62221/La-JCE-autoriza-la-expedicion-de-actas-a-49-hijos-de-haitianos

Here's a suggestion: Why not reposition these troops to man only the border region

Martelly can have his Haitian troops or forces patrol the rest of Haiti. The foreign troops would prevent illegal transit between the two nations. Everyone will be pleased


14 September 2011 Last updated at 15:54 ET


Haiti police battle anti-UN protesters
Haitian protesters, one brandishing a placard reading "Brazil plus Chile equals occupation". Some Haitians regard the UN peacekeepers as an occupying force


Police in Haiti have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding the withdrawal of UN peace-keeping troops from the country.

The clashes happened outside the presidential palace in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The protests were triggered by allegations that UN troops from Uruguay raped a Haitian man.

UN peacekeepers from Nepal have also been blamed for starting a deadly cholera epidemic last year.

Chanting "rapists" and "Minustah (the UN force) must go," about 300 protesters marched on the presidential palace.

Some threw rocks at riot police who responded with tear gas.

Fleeing protesters disrupted a nearby camp for people made homeless by last year's huge earthquake.

Controversy

The UN peacekeeping force was first deployed in Haiti in 2004 to restore order following the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Its mandate was extended after the devastating earthquake in January 2010, and its strength was increased to around 12,000.

Minustah has helped post-earthquake recovery efforts and supervised this year's presidential election.

But it has also drawn controversy, including allegations of excessive use of force.

Some Haitians regard it as an occupying force.

Its reputation was particularly damaged by last year's cholera epidemic, which is thought to have been caused by sewage from a camp housing peacekeepers from Nepal.

Earlier this month the emergence of a video showing Uruguayan marines apparently abusing an 18-year-old Haitian man provoked widespread anger.

Uruguay has apologised for the alleged rape, and a full investigation is under way.

Haitian President Michel Martelly is expected to ask for a renewal of the UN mission's mandate, which expires next month.

But he has said he wants the Minustah's security role reduced and eventually replaced by a Haitian force.

South American nations - which contribute about half the peacekeeping force - have also said they want to reduce its size to pre-earthquake levels.

Information on recent developments on work visas issued to Haitian workers.


Haitians get first work visas

"A total of 384 Haitian workers have entered the country over the last few days with the first work visas granted by the Migration Department, after the approval of the new Migratory Regulation recently installed in the Dominican Republic. These employees began working on banana farms belonging to Plantaciones del Norte SRL, located in Montecristi, according to a source at Migration. The company financed the workers' documentation so that they could work in the country, guaranteeing their legal entry and return to their country of origin at the end of the work contract. The foreigners entered under the new legal status of 'temporary worker', which fulfills the prescriptions of Law 285-04 and its Regulations for Application 631-11. The director of Human Resources at Plantaciones del Norte SRL, Gianni Dal Mas, told Diario Libre that the company is the first in the country to take on the gradual coordination program established by Migration.

Yesterday the director of Migration, Jose Ricardo Taveras, said that the directorate has registered 380,000 Haitians who work in various areas in partnership with companies and producers in the country. Speaking on the "El Dia" program on Channel 11's Telesistema, the official added that they were proceeding with the National Plan of Regularization of Foreigners.

This set of regulations stipulates that foreigners who enter the country as salaried workers should arrive with a contract, a special visa and with an insurance policy provided by the contracting company that is responsible for the worker's return to his country of origin or face legal penalties. Article 68 indicates that non-resident foreigners who enter or have entered and who live or have resided in Dominican territory without a legal migration status are considered to be in transit. "