Refugees in Sosua

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j&t's future

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Mar 6, 2007
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It has become apparent in recent weeks the insurge of Hatian's Refugees showing up on the streets of Sosua.
Dressed poorly, most without any form of footwear and ripped clothes, I see locals and tourists concerned for their own safety by avoiding popular areas such as Pedro Clisante and indeed the main street near to Banco Popular.
I believe by encouraging them to beg or by giving them "hand-outs" this will do nothing to solve the problem of having them on the streets and indeed encourage their relatives and friends to join them in the town.
It's only a matter of time before the mugging and burgurly's start to increase at a time when Sosua needs all the good publicity it can get following recent incidents that include kidnapping.
What's the soloution?
 

Black Dog

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May 29, 2009
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You're right j&t's it is becoming a visible problem in the town and what a BIG question you ask "what's the soloution?". There was an interesting article in Sosua news about this
Sos?a-News

As a tourist town Sosua needs to find a soloution and PDQ but it needs to address the needs of these poor souls not just move them on!
Hats off to Wolfegang for his efforts!
 

Jumbo

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Jul 8, 2005
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I feel compassion for these poor souls but Sosua is a tourist town, not a refugee camp. The business and home owners need to put pressure on the local officials to clear them out. Does Sosua really need an influx of child preditors to show up to prey on these kids? The local kids bugged me in the past but a new batch of beggers and theives might be the icing on the cake. No wonder i spend less time in Sosua.
 

pedrochemical

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Aug 22, 2008
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I feel compassion for these poor souls but Sosua is a tourist town, not a refugee camp. The business and home owners need to put pressure on the local officials to clear them out. Does Sosua really need an influx of child preditors to show up to prey on these kids? The local kids bugged me in the past but a new batch of beggers and theives might be the icing on the cake. No wonder i spend less time in Sosua.


Clear them out?
Where to?
 
May 29, 2006
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Hmm... a whole bunch of Haitian kids who need to be fed near Sosua. Now if only there was some crazy evangelical woman willing to look after a 100 of them and put them up in an abandoned hotel....
 
M

mrgood1000

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Only 120 miles away in Port Au Prince

No one is coming to the North Coast if they are going to be perpetually hustled by countless Haitian children. I, too, feel for them. Life was bad before and now it is worse. But it is hard to live it up during a brief vacation when you know that their parents probably perished under rubble. But they are going to be highly trained in the area of stealing and pick-pocketing.
 

AngelaO

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The sight of that child sleeping in the garbage bag is heartbreaking. I completely understand the original post, declaring that giving to these children will only increase the numbers of children looking for handouts. Still, how does one turn a blind eye to such a sight, when directly confronted?
PeterInBrat, You have certainly piqued my interest, with your post. Would you mind elaborating?
 
Aug 21, 2007
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For every Haitian child you see begging in Sosua, there are hundreds of others here at home- wherever that may be here in the DR- with their family.

The charity I volunteer with serves poor Haitian refugees. I see about 160 of them each week. I can assure you, the majority of parents are loving and doing all they can to protect their children. No matter how poor they may be, neither the children nor the parents are begging or stealing or hanging out in the streets.

In fact, at least once a week, I think that American fathers could take a lesson from the Haitian fathers I see here, who love and care for their children right along with the mother.

Lindsey
 
May 29, 2006
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I was refering to Laura Sisbly, who is currently in a Haitian jail under investigation for trying to collect 33 Haitian "orphans," most of whom were given over to her to go to her transitional orphanage near Cabarete. But most of the kids were not actual orphans, but given over to her by parents who did not always understand she would be putting them up for pemanent adoption. It is a complex case for many reasons, not the least being that Sisbly may have been setting up a for profit orphanage and she has a spotty financial history. She didn't actually have a place for the kids but had planned to use an abandoned hotel near Cabarete until she could build her permanent site. She was originally arrested with 9 other people who have now been released.

Check out the history here:
http://www.dr1.com/forums/haiti-earthquake/100199-who-can-stop-tragedy.html

It is ironic that if she had just stayed in Cabarete, the kids would have come to her.
 

bluebayou

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Jan 26, 2010
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Back where they came from

Clear them out?
Where to?
Send them back to Haiti where they came from, same as any governments
immigration department would do. They're in violation, plain and simple, feeling sorry for these people is no solution to the problem. The Dominican Republic and the north shore has it's share of it's own problems. You can't tell me there is nowhere for them in the campo in the east.
 

pedrochemical

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Aug 22, 2008
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Send them back to Haiti where they came from, same as any governments
immigration department would do. They're in violation, plain and simple, feeling sorry for these people is no solution to the problem. The Dominican Republic and the north shore has it's share of it's own problems. You can't tell me there is nowhere for them in the campo in the east.


Er, OK.
Did you hear about the earthquake in Haiti just recently?
And have you seen their passports? Probably not because they haven't got paperwork- how do you deport somebody without paperwork? Legally you will be struggling to do this.

The USA has granted TPS (Temporary Protected Status) to Haitians that were in country so no, not every other immigration department is reacting like you think they should.

And I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience these refugees are causing - must be bringing down the price of condos.
I feel your loss and I am deeply sorry that you have to go through this nightmare of having these vermin around.

Your compassion astounds me.

What are you doing to help?
 

Richie

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Mar 30, 2005
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No one is coming to the North Coast if they are going to be perpetually hustled by countless Haitian children.

Why not? We've been perpetually hassled by every change seller, beach hut, menu jockey, real estate salesman, shoe shine boy and (especially) moto concho rider for years.

Also I saw Dominican kids sleeping on the street during my last trip in January (before the earthquake). So this isn't just a Haitian question but a general child poverty one.

Everybody with a brain should get behind Wolfgang in his efforts to do something positive and forget about the perpetual negative guff coming up in threads like this.
 
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May 29, 2006
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I think they will have to come up with some kind of refugee camps for the Haitians. Provide a soup kitchen, basic hygene and temp structures, but get ready to send them back to Haiti when they can get their act together. In the US they have holding stations with thousands of illegals waiting to be deported. It is really a prison but with somewhat more freedoms and no uniforms. The DR can prob put up shelters much faster than the Haitians currently can since there are already materials on their side of the island and imports are not being held up at entry points. Fingerprint and photo everyone in the camp and if they get caught in a city, put them into another camp but with barbed wire fences. It's an ugly idea I know, but 50,000+ starving Haitians in SD and other cities simply cannot lead to any good and to think there will be less than that once rainy season starts is not facing reality. Dumping them over the border will not work at all. The DR is going to have to pick up some of the slack caused by Haiti's government being a basketcase and international aid should address that reality.
 

bluebayou

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You must be on another planet

Er, OK.
Did you hear about the earthquake in Haiti just recently?
And have you seen their passports? Probably not because they haven't got paperwork- how do you deport somebody without paperwork? Legally you will be struggling to do this.

The USA has granted TPS (Temporary Protected Status) to Haitians that were in country so no, not every other immigration department is reacting like you think they should.

And I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience these refugees are causing - must be bringing down the price of condos.
I feel your loss and I am deeply sorry that you have to go through this nightmare of having these vermin around.

Your compassion astounds me.

What are you doing to help?
They don't have passports? no kidding. That's what we're talking about. Are you trying to tell me they can't deport them because they don't have papers? Ha! On the contrary, they need paperwork to stay. Do you think all the illegal immigrants, Mexican, Dominican, Cuban, ect ect ect that are deported from the US all have papers? Ha again. I am not predigest, or against the Haitian people. Just calling it as I see it.
All immigration departments in every country are in charge of controlling and protecting their borders, no matter how corrupt the government.
.......and I really don't care about the price of condos?? I have no intention of investing in any property in the DR.
.... no losses, no nightmares, just a post.
.....and what am I doing to help? nothing. I don't have enough to go around after I get done helping the poor people in my own country first, and the rest of the world.
Get a life Pedro.
 

Vacara

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The USA has granted TPS (Temporary Protected Status) to Haitians that were in country so no, not every other immigration department is reacting like you think they should.

Pedro: the order to halt deportation only refers to those who were in the US before the earthquake, the rest are being deported without hesitation.

Also, the problem with illegal Haitians in DR is much more complicated than in the US, so this is an unfair comparison.
 

pedrochemical

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Aug 22, 2008
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Pedro: the order to halt deportation only refers to those who were in the US before the earthquake, the rest are being deported without hesitation.

Also, the problem with illegal Haitians in DR is much more complicated than in the US, so this is an unfair comparison.


Granted that the US situation is totally different - I accept that.

Interestingly, if the TPS is for Haitians already illegally in the US then the only Haitians it does not apply to are the ones that have arrived since the quake - a few hundred at most.
I read somewhere that the USCG said there has been no major increase in the amount of boats arriving in US and Bahamian waters. So effectively the vast majority of Haitian illegal immigrants have gotten a free pass for some amount of time.
I think it is a good thing bearing in mind the 'T' in 'TPS' stands for 'temporary'.

It just really chaps my knackers that there are Gringos who moved here recently who are no more legal than the people they want deported.
By default these people assume they have the right to be here but the Haitians do not.
Talk of rounding Haitians up and sticking them in camps ready for deportation to a country that is collapsed and is set to become even less able to cope with an influx of homeless people makes me wonder about the humanity of these people.
Now if I hear a Dominican talking like this I can understand where they are coming from a little more - I still do not like it but I can understand why they feel like this - and as a guest in their country I need to respect their opinions on their sovereignty.
The Sosua Gringos, many of who regularly overstay their 90 day tourist card and live here with impunity however, are on very dodgy moral ground calling for the mass deportation of Haitians.

Why do these expats not refer to these Haitians as expats?

For me it is all about having a little respect for one's fellow human beings.
 
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