Haitians using the Dominican Republic as a bridge to South America are being returned under the terms of the Chicago Convention. According to Listin Diario, the Chicago Convention states that the governments of the signatory countries are obliged to receive foreigners who left their home countries but were not admitted into another nation. Haitians are using are using the Dominican Republic as a bridge to travel to South American countries, from where they are returned to the country through the Las Americas International Airport every day. A source at Migration told the newspaper that the DR is obliged to receive these people because they left from here, but Migration then repatriates them back to their own country. Although the Haitians are traveling as tourists, countries such as Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador reject them because they do not meet their entrance requirements. According to Listin Diario, this is usually because they do not have enough money.
As there are no visa requirements to travel to Ecuador, Bolivia or Peru, Haitians who enter the Dominican Republic on legal visas and are then recruited by unscrupulous people who send them on to these countries where almost all are rejected at the airport upon arrival. Many of these people are hoping to cross over into Brazil where construction is booming.