Tighter controls have impeded the return of thousands of illegal Haitians many of whom voluntarily returned to Haiti to visit friends and family over the Christmas holidays. As a result, coffee growers, rice planters, and construction works have had to start hiring Dominican workers. Coffee growers in Villa Trina, which had come to depend on the cheap Haitian labor, say they could suffer major losses with the harvest, as 400,000 quintals are remaining to be harvested of an about 1.3 million quintals crop. Less Haitians are needed in the sugar fields as most government sugar mills are closed as private companies prepare for reopening. Given the privatization of sugar mills, it is expected that when these reopen they will mechanize part of the process and offer better living conditions to attract Dominican labor. Danilo Diaz, director of Migration told the press, "I am of opinion that we should not import labor, that we have to "Dominicanize" the harvest of sugar cane." Spokesman for the government party, José Tomás Pérez, secretary of the PLD, favors the increase in rulings regarding foreign laborers. He told the press, when asked about the Haitian harvesters, that only those that have temporary work permits, as happens in other countries, should be allowed to work in the farms. "I believe that the government can not permit the massive influx of Haitians without any documentation, control or registry," he said. Until recently, the frontier of the DR with Haiti was practically an open door, and Haitian laborers, without any identification papers, wandered through the DR looking for work in the fields or cities, and even the tourist areas. The president of the Asociación de Constructores y Promotores de Viviendas, José Ramón Martínez Burgos said that as a result of the start of enforcement of migration laws, there is a trend among builders to mechanize heavy construction work, substituting men by machines. He said that Dominicans will continue to be masons and carpenters, but that they have left labor such as building ditches to Haitians. He said that engineers have discovered they can replace six Haitians by purchasing a machine. The machine reduces the construction time and a series of new problems regarding Haitian labor, such as hygiene problems on site and the importing of sicknesses, such as malaria, which is common in Haiti, but had been eradicated in the DR. Contractors are increasingly hiring Dominican workers as is apparent at construction sites. A local engineer says that the savings when hiring Haitians are not worth the problems. Dominican workers are usually paid RD$150 the day, Haitians RD$125. Vigilance along the frontier has been stepped up, according to military sources, to discourage Haitian illegal migration. Thousands of Haitians would move on to Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata and Santiago cities upon entering on market days, when the frontier was opened for trade. Today, Haitians found circulating on roads outside of frontier market areas without the correct documentation are being deported. Stricter vigilance has been implemented in the past, but military revert to the old lax migration practice and corruption as weeks go by. Minister of Foreign Relations Eduardo Latorre told El Siglo that the increasing number of Haitians that attempt to cross illegally, due to problems within Haiti, has brought about the increase in frontier military vigilance.
