Legislator Vinicio Castillo Seman is advising the non-governmental organizations that have been campaigning against the Constitutional Court ruling 168-13 to work to help the foreigners legalize their status through a first step of temporary residency. The ruling ordered the government to continue the more common practice of not issuing Dominican nationality to illegal foreigners.
“The regularization plan that the government announced to comply with the Constitutional Court ruling is a magnificent opportunity for the NGOs to show they are truly interested in the human plight of people who do not have identity papers. They would do well since they receive dollars and euros to work in harmony with the Central Electoral Board (JCE), the Department of Immigration and the National Immigration Council to regularize the status of the illegal immigrants,” he said in a press release.
He commented on the possibility of drafting legislation that would shorten the steps for the children who have been born and raised in the country, while having illegal parents, could receive Dominican nationality in accordance to the Constitution, on a case-by-case basis. He said the bill could be drafted based on the findings of the report that the National Council of Immigration has requested from the JCE to establish the numbers and modality of those affected by the irregularities in the civil registry that are covered by the Constitutional Court ruling.