Immigrants complain over the slowness of regularization process

Santiago.– Hundreds of immigrants, mostly Haitians, attended the office of the Provincial Governor in Santiago with the purpose of normalizing their immigration status in the Dominican Republic through the Plan to Regularize Foreigners, Diario Libre reported today.

According to the report, the immigrants complained of the slowness with which the employees in the office of the Interior and Police Ministry were working.

They inundated the streets and sidewalks asking for an entry pass, which made traffic difficult on Calle del Sol, Santiago’s most heavily traveled street, where the offices are located, DL reported.

As quoted by the newspaper, Samir Santos, the director of the Plan to Regularize Foreigners, said one of the causes which contributes to the agglomeration of foreigners in the different centers of the country is a large number of persons that are appearing to present the documentation.

On Saturday hundreds of Dominicans of Haitian descentprotested in front of the Haitian Consulate in Santiago, over what they say is the Haitian government’s inaction in providing them with crucial immigration paperwork that needs to be filed before June 17 in order for them to continue to reside legally in the country.