From time to time, the media reports on the feat of fitting more than a dozen undocumented Haitians in a private vehicle. The border with Haiti is closed due to the Covid-19. As usual, people find ways to try to outwit the authorities and get to one of the cities where they hope to find work or have relatives and friends.
Members of the northwest division of the National Police reported that they apprehended a Dominican citizen in the northwestern province of Valverde for transporting 17 undocumented immigrants, including two children between six months and one year old in a Toyota Camry.
The Police said that two of the men were on the verge of suffocating to death when the smugglers were caught by the Police. When the vehicle was checked in Police files, it was painted green, not red. When the car was red, another driver had been detained for the same feat. He is still serving time in the Mao jail, as reported in Listin Diario. The Police is investigating whether the smuggling is part of a illegal migration network.
“I regret a thousand times returning to my country, I was scared by the coronavirus in the Dominican Republic, but now the situation is much more difficult in Haiti, because there it’s save yourself as you can,” said Gerinsa Pierre, one of the illegal immigrants arrested on Wednesday, 10 June 2020. As reported in Listin Diario, the arrested say that there is no food or medicines in Haiti, the hospitals are not equipped, and there are few doctors and pharmaceuticals. Many of the detainees said they paid between RD$5,000 to RD$6,000 for the ride to Santiago de los Caballeros.
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Listin Diario
12 June 2020