President Leonel Fernandez has convened the National Council on Migration for a meeting on Monday, 18 July to define immigration policies. According to the Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda, the discussions will examine the provisos of Law 285-04.
Almeyda and other immigration authorities met for several hours with the President yesterday.
According to the minister, the current Immigration Law became official in August of 2004, creating the National Council on Migration, which is made up of eleven ministries and directorates. The council is empowered to establish migration policies and regulate movements in and out of the country. Today’s Hoy newspaper says that yesterday’s meeting at the Presidential Palace led to an agreement whereby the decisions taken at the July meeting will seek to define the presence of all foreign nationals currently living in the Dominican Republic. Minister Almeyda pointed out that while there are nationals from China, the United States, France and Italy living in the country, the largest group of foreigners is Haitian. According to Almeyda the Dominican Republic does not have clear-cut immigration policies and the Council will attempt to define these. Almeyda emphasized that the human rights aspects of the deportations would be observed.