Former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez had shared a video taken in the Las Americas International Airport where he strongly protested the migration alert that impeded him from leaving the country. Less than a week after he would be arrested and charged for major corruption in office. At the time, Rodríguez argued the practice was illegal.
A week before, his successor, Miriam Germán Brito had ordered the practice to be discontinued. Nevertheless, when Rodríguez inquired why he was impeded from leaving, he was referred to the Specialized Anti Administrative Corruption Agency (Pepca).
Now, it is known that during Rodríguez’s term (2016-2020) as top prosecutor the illegal measure was imposed many many times. The number shared for the measure being imposed from 2016 to 2020 is 5,879 times, as reported in Listin Diario. The authorities then alleged the measure was a collaboration to safeguard national security.
The alerts were originally a “warning” to the authorities regarding the migratory movements of persons under investigation. Attorney General of the Republic Miriam German Brito pointed out that in recent history they were being used as “real impediments to exit” the country.
The alerts impeded certain persons from leaving the country, in violation of Law 200 on impediments to leave the country. Article 1 of that law establishes that only those nationals or foreigners with penalties imposed by the justice system or in the police, migration and health laws may be prevented from leaving the country. The same law in its Article 5 establishes that in “case of urgency” the Attorney General of the Republic has the power to request the general director of the Migration Agency (DGM) to prohibit the departure abroad of a certain person. However, the same law establishes that the prosecutors have 72 hours to document the reasons for prohibiting the departure.
The months of March and November 2020 top the list of immigration alerts at the request of security agencies for 2020 with 688 and 758 alerts, respectively.
According to the report prepared by the DGM, the institutions that most requested immigration alerts in 2020 were the Migration Agency with 1,325; the National Department of Investigations (DNI) with 652 and the Public Prosecutor’s Office with 293.
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Listin Diario
12 July 2021