US government defies Constitutional Court Ruling 168-13
Despite the Constitutional Court ruling 168-13 establishing that Juliana Eguis does not qualify for Dominican nationality on the grounds that her parents were in the Dominican Republic illegally, the US Consulate issued a humanitarian visa to Juliana Eguis on 20 March 2014 identifying her as a Dominican in the special visa. Eguis tried to travel to the US to attend an Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) hearing having only the US visa. Migration Department officers said she needed to present a passport to leave the country. She was accompanied by journalists when she tried to leave on a 5am JetBlue flight on Sunday, 23 March.
After receiving the US visa on 20 March, Eguis demanded a Dominican passport in a visit to the Passport Department with lawyers and media. When Listin Diario reporters interviewed Passport Department director Iris Guaba, she said it cannot be correctly said that Deguis was denied a passport when she never formally requested one. According to Guaba, Eguis did not make her application via the normal channels and did not submit the required documentation for applying for a Dominican passport. Instead she presented a photocopy of her birth certificate and of the humanitarian visa. Guaba said that the requirements included a legalized birth certificate and Dominican cedula. She said that only foreigners who have lost their passports or had them stolen were allowed to travel with an emergency travel document issued by their consulate.
"From the moment Deguis arrived at the Passports department... her lawyers were yelling out on one and another side and the journalists were requesting comments," said Guaba. She said that the scene created lots of confusion and she wondered whether the intention was to request the passport or to appear in the media, as reported in Listin Diario.
As reported, Eguis' lawyers had also notified the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the granting of the visa and demanded the Dominican passport.
El Dia quotes a US government official as saying that US Immigration Law allows for exceptions for issuing visas without a passport. The newspaper also reports that JetBlue had authorized Eguis' departure, but when she got to the Migration section, officers there said that she needed a Dominican passport to leave with that visa. Her lawyers Manuel de Jesus Dandre, Maria Martinez and Genaro Rincon were able to travel to the IACHR meeting.
The Foreign Relations Ministry's Human Rights Department director Radhys Abreu will represent the Dominican Republic at the hearing today, Monday, 24 March at 3pm.
The Dominican Republic government has provided mechanisms to fast-track naturalization for people in Eguis' situation, but Eguis is holding out for automatic granting of citizenship arguing that she was born in the Dominican Republic.
El Dia's editorial today writes that identifying Deguis as a Dominican national despite the Constitutional Court ruling was "an excess" by the US government. "The United States is not entitled to blithely issue nationality of other countries," writes the editorialist. The director of El Dia is lawyer Rafael Molina Morillo, a former Dominican ambassador to the United States.
EU dio visa a Deguis sin pasaporte -
CIDH conoce hoy tres casos contra Rep?blica Dominicana - DiarioLibre.com
El Caribe ? Juliana Deguis intent? viajar a EEUU sin pasaporte
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2...s-dice-no-le-ha-negado-ese-documento-a-Deguis
Un exceso de Estados Unidos -
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Despite the Constitutional Court ruling 168-13 establishing that Juliana Eguis does not qualify for Dominican nationality on the grounds that her parents were in the Dominican Republic illegally, the US Consulate issued a humanitarian visa to Juliana Eguis on 20 March 2014 identifying her as a Dominican in the special visa. Eguis tried to travel to the US to attend an Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) hearing having only the US visa. Migration Department officers said she needed to present a passport to leave the country. She was accompanied by journalists when she tried to leave on a 5am JetBlue flight on Sunday, 23 March.
After receiving the US visa on 20 March, Eguis demanded a Dominican passport in a visit to the Passport Department with lawyers and media. When Listin Diario reporters interviewed Passport Department director Iris Guaba, she said it cannot be correctly said that Deguis was denied a passport when she never formally requested one. According to Guaba, Eguis did not make her application via the normal channels and did not submit the required documentation for applying for a Dominican passport. Instead she presented a photocopy of her birth certificate and of the humanitarian visa. Guaba said that the requirements included a legalized birth certificate and Dominican cedula. She said that only foreigners who have lost their passports or had them stolen were allowed to travel with an emergency travel document issued by their consulate.
"From the moment Deguis arrived at the Passports department... her lawyers were yelling out on one and another side and the journalists were requesting comments," said Guaba. She said that the scene created lots of confusion and she wondered whether the intention was to request the passport or to appear in the media, as reported in Listin Diario.
As reported, Eguis' lawyers had also notified the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the granting of the visa and demanded the Dominican passport.
El Dia quotes a US government official as saying that US Immigration Law allows for exceptions for issuing visas without a passport. The newspaper also reports that JetBlue had authorized Eguis' departure, but when she got to the Migration section, officers there said that she needed a Dominican passport to leave with that visa. Her lawyers Manuel de Jesus Dandre, Maria Martinez and Genaro Rincon were able to travel to the IACHR meeting.
The Foreign Relations Ministry's Human Rights Department director Radhys Abreu will represent the Dominican Republic at the hearing today, Monday, 24 March at 3pm.
The Dominican Republic government has provided mechanisms to fast-track naturalization for people in Eguis' situation, but Eguis is holding out for automatic granting of citizenship arguing that she was born in the Dominican Republic.
El Dia's editorial today writes that identifying Deguis as a Dominican national despite the Constitutional Court ruling was "an excess" by the US government. "The United States is not entitled to blithely issue nationality of other countries," writes the editorialist. The director of El Dia is lawyer Rafael Molina Morillo, a former Dominican ambassador to the United States.
EU dio visa a Deguis sin pasaporte -
CIDH conoce hoy tres casos contra Rep?blica Dominicana - DiarioLibre.com
El Caribe ? Juliana Deguis intent? viajar a EEUU sin pasaporte
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2...s-dice-no-le-ha-negado-ese-documento-a-Deguis
Un exceso de Estados Unidos -
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