The Global Foundation for Democracy and Development is holding a workshop on the social and legal realities of Dominicans deported from the United States, on Friday, 24 March.
A presentation will be made by Rene Vicioso, of the Bienvenid@ Seas Foundation. The foundation was created to assist over 35,000 Dominicans who have returned after being deported from overseas over the past 20 years. From 2000 alone, some 15,040 Dominicans have returned as deportees, of these 5,000 in 2005 alone. 95% are deported from the US, and most are men between 25 to 45 years of age. For many, the DR is a foreign land, as many migrated to the US as children and barely speak Spanish. For more information on the work of Bienvenid@ Seas, see http://www.pciudadana.com/articulos_analisis/010602006por_juan_diaz.htm
The Dominican Ambassador in Washington, Flavio Dario Espinal and Nina Siulc, of the Vera Institute of Justice, Migration Director Carlos Amarante and District Attorney Jose Manuel Hernandez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alejandra Liriano, Director of New York Prisons Hector Chiesa, Police Chief Bernardo Santana, and Monsignor Agripino Nunez will be among the speakers at the event. The workshop promises to be the most complete discussion of the impact of Dominican deportees in the DR.
Maria Elizabeth Rodriguez, projects director at the think-tank, is the program coordinator. The objective is that the discussions serve as a base for preparing an Action Plan to help deal with the challenges presented by the repatriation of Dominicans with criminal records from the US.
For more information, see http://www.funglode.org/FunglodeApp/ArticuloDeta.aspx?ListId=478