Deputy Pelegrin Castillo Seman in an interview in El Caribe today states that the DR needs to convince first world countries that the solution is not that the DR bear the burden of the Haitian crisis but rather that real help be provided to rebuild Haiti. He told the newspaper, “If you see your nearest neighbor in a state of disintegration, in a catastrophic situation, it will only be a matter of time before that chaos moves to your own territory.” Castillo said that one can not corner a nation. You cannot defend human rights of people denying national rights. It is a very dangerous contradiction,” he stated.
In his opinion, for decades there has been a covert laissez faire policy regarding migration. “Migration over the border has shown sustained growth, which is leading to a serious national security problem,” he told the reporter.
In his opinion there are three variables that have the most decisive influence on the increase in crime in the DR: the increase in unemployment, proliferation of arms amongst the civilian population, and the increase in drug consumption. He states that the lack of border control has an effect on these variables.
“We need a migration policy that is complemented by sanitary and labor border controls, he stated.
Castillo said that the DR can not become a “pivot state” for Haiti, a sort of escape valve for the internal tensions of that country.
“The international community knows that Haiti is a collapsed state but they do not want to declare it as such because if they do so they will have to assume a long term commitment that would be costly, uncertain and difficult,” he explains. “Then it is easier to pressure the neighbor state, condition it, commit it to a bilateral relation where the DR becomes a tutor state of Haiti, but we are not prepared to assume that role. That formula will not resolve the Haitian problems,” in his opinion.
In his opinion, Haitian migration to the DR is reaching a saturation point. He explained that in 1986 there were approximately 800,000 to a million Haitians, but if the flow continues as at present, an additional million Haitians will migrate to the DR in the next five years.