Dominican Republic urges undocumented Haitians to return to their country

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic urged this Friday the return to its country of “every citizen” foreigner who is in an irregular migratory condition, since the persecution operations will continue in its territory, especially in the border area with Haiti, “where resources and special interest have been concentrated”.

The Director General of Migration, Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester, stated that his organization recently incorporated 300 members of the Rapid Reaction Agents (RRA) division, bringing the total to 1,000 of these personnel, while another 750 individuals are in training.

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The officer, according to a note from his office, referred to it in those terms after a tour of the main border deployments of Elías Piña and Dajabón. “With this staff prepared theoretically in the classroom and practically in the field, we extend our presence to 19 provinces, so we recommend to irregular immigrants who are here in the Dominican Republic, to voluntarily leave for their country, because with this staff, together with the members of the Dominican Republic Army and security agencies, interdictions (arrests and deportations) will increase.” He also referred to a facial recognition system installed in the DGM, which is in a testing period, to strengthen controls through biometrics and the use of modern technologies, which allow regulating those who access the binational markets. “From Migration, we are agreeing on the issuance of a resolution for the establishment of the corresponding procedures that foreigners participating in the cross-border commercial dynamics must comply with, with the correct registration of their personal identity,” said Lee Ballester, referring to the binational markets of Dajabón and Elías Piña, mainly. According to DGM data, more than 153,000 undocumented Haitians were deported to their country in the first half of the year, and another 58,641 voluntarily returned to Haiti. Since October 2024, the Dominican Republic has deployed operations for the arrest and deportation of thousands of undocumented Haitians. Both countries share a border of almost 400 kilometers. On that occasion, President Luis Abinader stated that this is one of the measures his government took as a result of the almost total insecurity situation prevailing in the neighboring country.