In an interview with El Caribe, the president of the Higher Electoral Court Mariano Rodriguez said that the Constitutional Court Ruling 168-13 that calls for the start of the immigration regularization plan seeks to resolve a situation that has been pending for years in the Dominican Republic.
“There are many opinions and interpretations and I have heard people talk about the ruling as if it were going to solve the immigration problem in the Dominican Republic,” he said in an interview with El Caribe. “I believe that it is not going to resolve this and it is not the spirit of the ruling,” he said. He said that the immigration issue would not be resolved “until the country takes control of all who enter and leave the Dominican Republic.”
He said that many foreigners come here and stay and advocated for the government to establish effective immigration controls because that is its right and obligation. “Those entering need to be provided with documentation: not Dominican nationality documentation, but documentation that can be used to regularize their status while there are here,” he said.
He commented on the wall that Haiti is building at a section of the border. The Haitians are complaining about the free trade at the border and want to tax it. He said that walls have not solved anything in other countries. “What has to be done is regularization, because I sustain that there isn’t a single Haitian who enters by the border who has not been helped by Dominicans to circulate freely and we know that,” he said.
He commented that for many years, trucks and buses filled with Haitians have entered the country, which proves Dominican complicity because they have to pass many control posts to enter Dominican territory.
He said what is important is for the Dominican state to take control of the issue and find a humanitarian solution for the foreigners who may be affected.
www.elcaribe.com.do/2013/11/13/ldquo-estado-debe-tomar-control-quien-entra-sale-rdquo