An Outsider's view on the subject from The Guardian

GWOZOZO

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Dec 7, 2011
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Floridatigre

07 October 2013 1:56pm

This comment has been chosen by Guardian staff because it contributes to the debate

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"I live in the Dominican Republic. The situation is very difficult, essentially because the DR is a poor, but robust country, whereas Haiti is a complete economic basket case strongly dependent on foreign aid. Neither country has anything like "job-seekers allowance" or disability benefit, though the DR does have some publicly subsidized housing and health services.

The cost of labour is very cheap in the DR and a large reason for this is that there is Haitian labour available very cheaply. The beautiful apartment I live in was built by Haitian labourers who received, I believe, less than $5 per day when they were working on the project.

I am Anglo-American and my wife is Haitian. We have a daughter of 5 whose biological father was Haitian (died in earthquake in 2010), but whose registered father is a Dominican of Haitian descent. She has a Dominican passport, though whether she will now lose it, I don't know. I don't think the DR government is efficient enough to investigate everyone of Haitian descent to revoke their citizenship, carry out DNA testing, etc.

Our younger daughter was born in the DR and thus became a stateless person at birth. I was able to get a UK birth certificate for her and perhaps one day she will come to the UK.

Thus I have a family in which four different nationalities are represented: Myself British and US, my wife Haitian, my daughter British, and my step daughter Dominican.

The DR government has made a number of erratic decisions recently. For example there is a new abortion law that 100% forbids abortions, even in the case of the most egregious medical need. This new law revoking citizenship of people of Haitian descent may be another pratfall.

Usually there is relatively little discussion about new legislation and residents of the UK should be grateful for fora like CIF.

You would think from these comments that the DR is something like Rwanda, but in reality Dominicans and Haitians are rubbing shoulders and going about their daily business quite amicably most of the time, however it is also true that Haitians, rightly or wrongly, are quickly arrested when the police are looking for burglars or murderers."
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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elizabetheames.blogspot.com
My problem with this article .. as with all the other articles I have read in the English press.. is that I do not believe that is actually what the Court DID say!

Now I may be just whistling up wind.. and certainly the implication is that the Court implied that such papers of illegal immigrants were illegal but what the ruling SAID

was that the government had to come up with a LIST of persons affected

and then a PLAN of how to regularize their status.

I have posted the full court decision and the short decision in several places. Am I the only one who is reading it this way?