The director of the Department of Migration, Carlos Amarante Baret estimates that Haitians living in the DR send back remittances worth more than US$270 million. He also told Hoy newspaper that of an estimated 10,000 people who live permanently in Bavaro, the main community on the east coast, about 7,500 or the majority are illegal Haitians. Most Dominicans who work in the area live in the city of Higuey, about half an hour away. He commented that 30% of the budgeted allotment assigned to the Ministry of Health is used to service Haitians in the Dominican Republic, including many who commute between the DR and Haiti.
On the question of the Haitians living in the Bavaro area, he commented that a great majority of the workers who were attracted by the offer of construction work in the large hotels in the area have returned with their wives and children, brothers, cousins, friends, taking advantage of the illegal migration rings that exist between the two countries.
He said that the DR is exercising its sovereign right when it repatriates Haitians. The Migration director made these comments during a TV interview on Hoy Mismo, broadcast by Channel 9. He said that in the Dominican Republic there has always been a spirit of cooperation, because Haiti’s development and stability is in the country’s best interest. However, he reiterated that the rest of the world cannot leave the burden of Haiti’s poverty to the Dominican Republic.