Some 4,222 Dominicans were deported from the United States to the DR from January to August 2004, almost double the 2,327 that were deported during the first eight months of 2003. The number is 30% more than the 3,284 that were deported in the entire year 2003. From 1998 to 2003, some 19,934 Dominicans have been deported.
El Caribe newspaper reports that more than 60 of every 100 Dominicans that were deported from the United States during the first half of 2004 were deported for criminal charges, primarily drugs, homicides, rape or forgery. The remaining 36.7% was sent home for violation to US migration law.
Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito told El Caribe newspaper that he has no doubts the increase in the deportees has to do with the increase in delinquency in the DR. But he told the El Caribe that in recent violent incidents, such as those that happened in Navarette, Azua and Banco de Reservas robberies, the authorities did not link these to those deported. Domingo Brito said that the deportees should not be stigmatized, as they are not all alike.
Dominguez told El Caribe: “You have to handle this case with tweezers. A deported person is not necessarily a high risk criminal. We cannot attribute the wave of violence to the increase in deported Dominicans.”