Santo Domingo. - The Jesuit Service for Refugees and Migrants (SJRM) on Thursday said it’s deeply concerned with an alleged two week long campaign against Haitian migrants and “Dominico-Haitians” in some media, which it didn’t identify, and stems from “interests between some actors of the Dominican State and some private sector.”

"It troubles us that this campaign can lead to acts of aggression committed against the population of Haitian origin, within a plan to exacerbate ultranationalist feelings, to divert the attention from the serious social and political problems which confront Dominican Republic and to rarefy the Constitutional Reform process," the SJRM said, the second time this year the organization headed by the Jesuit priest Regino Martinez Breton criticizes the Government and the private sector on the issue of undocumented Haitians.

It noted that key points are currently being discussed on migration, as well as modifications to the process of acquiring the Dominican nationality.

"At other important moments of legislative reforms, in which some of these topics were addressed, or at moments in which courts had to decide on some important question on the issue, similar situations surfaced to condition the decision-makers: Is the occurrence of these acts of violence at moments like this pure coincidence?"

In a statement, the SJRM said “overflow” of irregular immigration isn’t the result of what it calls the myth of a peaceful invasion as some mass media argue, rather the shared interests by some actors of the Dominican State and some private sector.

It said the agro, export and construction sectors promote immigration of Haitians “without papers, seeking lower manpower costs to make the country more attractive,” for foreign investments in those areas of the economy. “In other words, irregular immigration is made possible with the only purpose of  securing major profits, while denying the most elementary rights to immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian ancestry, including the right to be recognized as a legal personage and to a written a work contract."