Immigration bill passes first step
The Senate approved a first reading of the new legislation regarding immigration. The legislation characterizes temporary workers as non-residents and denies citizenship to any children born to them while they have not achieved residence status in the country. The projected bill also creates the National Immigration Council and the National Institute on Immigration. The National Council on Immigration will act as a ?coordinating organization for the institutions that are responsible for the application of the national policy on migration, and will act as an advisor to the State.? The Council will be made up of the ministers of the Interior and the Police, the Armed Forces, the Foreign Relations, Tourism, Public Works, Labor, Public Health, Agriculture, and the JCE. The new proposal defines temporary workers as ?those foreigners who enter the national territory for a certain period of time, under contract, either as individuals or in groups.? Moreover, ?for the present law, the seasonal contracts of the sugar industry will be considered to be work contracts for a specified period of time.? This means that sugar cane cutters and other workers brought into the country for the sugar harvest will become ?non-residents? and, as per Article 10 of the proposed bill, this implies that they will be considered ?persons in transit? for the purpose of applying Article 11 of the Dominican Constitution, which defines Dominican citizens as those ?persons born in the territory of the Republic, with the exception of those legitimate children of foreign diplomatic residents in the country or those who are in transit there.?
The status of children of Haitian migrants for years has been a touchy issue. There is the concern that to legalize their status as Dominican nationals would serve as an incentive for Haitian migration to increase, placing further social burdens on the continually declining social resources available in the DR. In practice, these services are currently being provided to the illegal Haitian residents, who already consume a large share of public hospital and school services.
