As of Monday, 1 December 2024, Dominican authorities have deported 71,124 Haitians since implementing a mass repatriation policy in October. Media reports indicate that most of those that are deported return shortly given the scant controls over the 391 km Dominican border with Haiti. The deportations, yet, enable the people to be processed, with their biometric details filed.
According to statistics provided by the Migration Agency (DGM) to Diario Libre, a total of 253,328 foreigners have been deported to Haiti so far this year, surpassing the 2023 figure by 2,310.
Throughout the country, authorities continue to enforce the government’s policy of deporting up to 10,000 undocumented migrants from neighboring Haiti each week, Diario Libre reports. This measure was implemented on 2 October 2024 in response to the worsening Haitian crisis and lack of international support to end the multidimensional crisis in that country.
On 1 December 2024, Interior and Police Minister Faride Raful announced the creation of a specialized migration unit focused on strengthening border surveillance and national security.
The following day, a court in Pedernales sentenced two men to five years in prison for human trafficking of Haitian migrants. José Manuel Pérez Rodríguez and Yeison López were found guilty of illegally transporting four Haitians in a truck.
The conviction was based on Article 2 of Law 137-03 on the trafficking of migrants, and the sentence will be served by the defendants in the public prison of that province.
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Diario Libre
4 December 2024