The Migration Agency (DGM) reports it has already filed 102 cases involving 144 individuals charged with assisting the illegal entry of 686 undocumented foreign nationals. The number is a significant increase from the single case brought to court by the DGM in the first nine months of 2024.
Of the 144 individuals charged, judges have ordered preventive detention for 14, while 42 have been granted economic bail and ordered to report periodically. Travel bans were issued for 20, and 32 are required to report periodically without additional conditions. Coercive measures for the remaining 36 defendants are still pending.
Laura Mariñez, the DGM’s legal director, stated that the primary offenses cited in these submissions include illegal immigrant trafficking (80 cases), document forgery (9 cases), and extortion and fraud (3 cases).
The DGM’s efforts span across multiple provinces, with Peravia leading with 19 cases. Other significant provincial contributions include Independencia (12), Barahona (10), Santo Domingo East (9), Jimaní (8), La Altagracia (6), and Bahoruco (5). San Juan de la Maguana and Azua each saw four cases, while Pedernales, Santo Domingo East, and La Vega had three. Puerto Plata and Santo Domingo West each reported two cases, and Montecristi, Santiago, San Francisco, and San Pedro de Macorís each had one.
The cracking down on undocumented entries, as a consequence of the stepped-up pace of entries across the 391 km border with Haiti, has also increased the reported price mafias are said to be charging. Services that once cost RD$2,000 are now costing RD$25,000, according to Santiago Rodriguez senator Antonio Marte, himself an owner of a major transport company.
Every day, the media covers the stories of undocumented Haitians as they are uncovered by the authorities. The media also presents the cases of several repeat offending people smugglers.
Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez has called the border “a revolving door,” when referring to the hundreds of thousands that enter at a time when the Dominican Republic is not issuing regular travel visas for Haitians given the multidimensional crisis in that country.
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CDN
21 May 2025