illegal immigration, how do they know?

Tras terremoto Hait?, unos 57 mil ilegales se han quedado en el pa?s - DiarioLibre.com

I was struck by the precision of the figures //57,119 Haitians have stayed in the country illegally, entering from teh three binational markets in Dajabon, Elias Pina and Pedernales.

Has anyone been to those markets recently?

I have visited all of them but during those times, there was no count taken of the number of Haitians entering or leaving. In fact, the borders were simply open, and people were crossing back and forth all day.

I wonder if the process has changed? Do they only let people in one at a time? Is there someone taking a head count? Has anyone seen this?

The way that they have built the markets all on the DR side is bound to make for an open border. I know that there were international NGOs who were pushing for the idea of having a market area which would be enclosed and isolated from both sides of the border, but the DR towns, I guess, wanted the revenue? or what?

I suppose that this is a big subject under discussion for the DR/Haiti trade commission or whatever they are called. But it really does seem odd to me that a country which does not WANT illegal immigration should just essentially open its borders completely at three crossings twice a week.

I have not seen the new market area in Dajabon, so perhaps that is more enclosed now. Pedernales seems to just have a lot of traffic back and forth every day since most of the Haitians on the other side work in the DR.

It is really strange about the numbers.