The Migration Agency (DGM) announced on Monday, 9 December 2024 that it has been meeting with representatives from various productive sectors of the country to explore potential solutions to foreign labor shortages, while adhering to current immigration regulations. The escalating of terrorism and violence in general in Haiti has enhanced local security concerns and the need to hire people with known identities. Most Haitian foreigners do not have identity papers.
DGM director, Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester, and other officials have held meetings with representatives from the producers of plantains, rice, bananas, coffee, cocoa, beans, avocados, chicken, eggs, as well as livestock and pig farmers, the agency stated in a press release.
Additionally, meetings were held with executives from the Dominican Association of Builders and Housing Developers (Acoprovi), the Association of Builders of East Santo Domingo (Acosde), the Association of Promoters and Builders of the Cibao (Aprocovici), the Association of Builders and Developers of La Altagracia (Adecla), and the Alliance for Tourism Business of La Altagracia (Aleta).
Lee Ballester proposed the need to conduct a detailed survey to quantify the specific labor needs of each sector, which will allow for the design of strategies more tailored to market demands, always based on current immigration regulations and laws.
During the meetings, the head of the DGM noted that for a foreign worker to have a legal immigration status in the country, it is essential that when starting the necessary procedures, they present valid identity documents issued by the authorities of their country of origin.
The official emphasized the importance of employers hiring foreigners who are duly regularized and authorized by immigration laws to perform paid work in the country.
He also highlighted that the DGM’s actions are in line with the provisions of President Luis Abinader, who has reiterated the need to “Dominicanize” and mechanize agricultural and construction activities, as well as to ensure a balance between the labor needs of the productive sectors and compliance with immigration regulations.
The meetings coincide with the most recent atrocity in Haiti, the murder by machete of more than 180 elderly people in the Wharf Jeremie sector of Cité Soleil, with machetes and knives, in a massacre that began on Friday, 6 December and continued on Saturday, 7 December, according to the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH).
This massacre was allegedly the result of revenge by Micanor Altes alias “Wa Mikanò” leader of the Wharf Jeremie gang (which also operates around Fort Dimanche and La Saline), convinced by a voodoo priest that elderly people in the area practicing witchcraft had cast a deadly spell on his dying son and were responsible for the condition, his son died Saturday afternoon. As a result, elderly people suspected of witchcraft were reportedly targeted, the vast majority of victims were over 60 years old according to the RNDDH.
Meanwhile, American Airlines has announced that it will not resume flights to Haiti in February 2025.
And Fernando Capellan, of the Codevi group, is hardpressed to get the US Congress to extend the Hope trade preferences for Haiti that expire in 2025. The Codevi manufacturing plant in Ouanaminthe-Dajabon is the largest private employer in Haiti.
Meanwhile, Listin Diario reports there were 3,777 births to Haitian women in the Dominican Republic in the public hospital system. The births were 40% of the total months in the public hospital system (9,443 total births) in November 2024.
At the same time, for a change, the Dominican border authorities have been detaining military and people smugglers. Since October 2024, the Migration Agency reports deporting more than 70,000 Haitians. Most of those who are deported return promptly to the country through the scantly patrolled 391 km border.
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Haiti Libre
El Dia
Haiti Libre
Hope Trade Preference
10 December 2024