As reported in N Digital, the Dominican government has plans to open up to 40 offices to use these as base for a nationwide effort to document Haitian nationals living in the Dominican Republic. The government announced it will actively seek immigrants to ensure they register for the biometric database that will be accessible by the migration and security agencies. Deputy Minister of Interior & Police in charge of Migratory Management and Naturalization, Juan Manuel Rosario said that the first two offices were opened in the border provinces of Dajabón and Elías Piña (Comendador), in the two border provinces last week.
The plan is to create a “very solid” and “as interconnected as possible” database, which will be accessed by security agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Migration Agency (DGM) that is empowered to automatically deport any irregular immigrant.
The database will compile biometric information, such as fingerprints and images for facial recognition to facilitate the identification of Haitian immigrants, many of whom lack any identification document.
Rosario assured that “the migratory policy is the same”, so the DGM “will continue to do its job” of deporting immigrants in irregular conditions.
The new offices will be dedicated to registering the “thousands of illegal immigrants” in the Dominican Republic.
The role of the offices is to guarantee citizen security and national security and will be carried out within the framework of law and within the framework of human rights, says the deputy minister.
Immigrants will be able to register voluntarily at the office and if they do not do so, officials will visit them at their places of residence, according to the deputy minister.
Data will be collected not only from undocumented immigrants, but also from immigrants with residence permits and, in both cases, foreigners will have to notify these offices of any changes of address.
The documents will also be issued to the residents in Haitian border towns who go to work in the Dominican Republic on a daily basis, in order to control that they do not leave the border provinces.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
Ministry of Interior & Police
12 November 2021