The government of the Dominican Republic is pushing back against a U.S. embassy warning to dark-skinned American tourists that stepped-up enforcement against Haitian migrants in the Caribbean nation could lead to their being racially profiled or detained.
Local media, the U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo said, is reporting widespread operations by Dominican migration officials aimed at detaining those whom they believe to be undocumented migrants, especially people of Haitian descent.
“These actions may lead to increased interaction with Dominican authorities, especially for darker-skinned U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens of African descent,” the embassy said. “There are reports that detainees are kept in overcrowded detention centers, without the ability to challenge their detention, and without access to food or restroom facilities, sometimes for days at a time, before being released or deported to Haiti.”
In a statement issued on Sunday, Dominican authorities said they strongly reject the U.S. criticism of the crackdown. They said a Saturday warning sent out by the U.S. embassy in the capital of Santo Domingo is “manifestly unfounded, untimely.” The warning was issued as: “Alert: Reinforcement of migration in the Dominican Republic.”
The U.S. embassy’s messaging, the Dominican Republic’s ministry of foreign affairs said, contradicts “the excellent bilateral relationship” that exists between the two countries.
“Our country is the first trading partner of the United States in the Caribbean and the sixth in Latin America. We have been one of America’s most trusted allies in maintaining a free, open, prosperous, and secure international system for all nations,” the statement said.
Dominican authorities have come under heavy criticism from human-rights groups, the United Nations and Haitians who have been sharing video images of fellow Haitians being beaten by Dominican police ever since President Louis Abinader earlier this month issued a decree calling for massive deportations and the creation of a police unit to investigation foreigners illegally occupying land in the country.
The decree was issued after the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, on Nov. 10 called for a halt to deportations to Haiti from neighboring countries, including the Dominican Republic, citing the human rights and humanitarian crises facing Haiti.
“ I am troubled to see that forced returns of Haitians to Haiti from the Dominican Republic are continuing,” Turk said. “Unremitting armed violence and systematic human rights violations in Haiti do not currently allow for for the safe, dignified and sustainable return of Haitians to the country. I reiterate my call to all countries in the region, including the Dominican Republic, to halt the deportation of Haitians.”
Turk also called on Dominican Republic authorities to step up efforts to prevent xenophobia, discrimination and related forms of intolerance based on national, racial or ethnic origin, or immigration status.
While the United States criticized the migrant crackdown, it did not call for a stop to Haitian deportations.
The latest migrant roundups are creating tensions, which are nothing new between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola. But such tensions can also create problems for African Americans or other darker-skinned individuals traveling to the Dominican Republic, which is popular for its all-inclusive resorts.
In July 2020, an eight-day getaway to the country by three South Florida brothers of Haitian descent turned into a vacation from hell after the brothers were arrested. The men — Lonelson, John and Lovinsky Nalus — said they were set up with a four-pound package of marijuana planted in their white Hyundai Tucson rental car.
With court hearings canceled and prosecutors not showing, the brothers were stuck in the Dominican Republic, unable to return home. They received little support from the U.S. government or Florida lawmakers. More than two years later, their case is still pending in the Dominican Republic and has not been resolved, said Lonelson, who lost his job while one of his brothers had his car was repossessed and another lost a soccer scholarship due to the extended stay in the Dominican Republic.
In its Sunday communique, the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Relations said the deportations of 43,900 Haitians between July and October of this year is no different than that of the Biden administration, the ministry said in its lashing.
Just like every sovereign country, including the United States, that repatriates foreign nationals, the Dominican Republic has been forced to deport a high number of Haitian migrants, the statement said.
“The Dominican Republic can’t take it anymore,” the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Relations said, adding that the same Biden administration that is criticizing it for deportations deported more than 20,000 Haitians back to Haiti between February of last year and February of this year.
The ministry said the Abinader government has “repeatedly and systematically denounced before the international community the alarming situation in Haiti, aggravated since the assassination of President Moise,” which affects the national security of the Dominican Republic.
“Without the support of the international community, we have made an extraordinary effort to keep the border open to allow the Haitian population access to vital food, medicine, fuel, water, etc. Likewise, we have kept the commercial flow open, despite the number of kidnappings of Dominicans, including a diplomat from our embassy in Haiti,” the statement said. “Our armed forces unilaterally bear the high cost of providing security to the entire border between the two countries, maintaining some 9,000 troops in that place.”
