Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriguez, head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic, argues that the Constitutional Court ruling 168-13 sets a precedent for regularizing illegal immigration in the country. He urged people to read the ruling in order to understand it better.
The cardinal was responding to opinions from several priests who have advocated for granting Dominican nationality to everyone born in the country. The Cardinal says that no one, not even the Catholic Church, can be above the Constitutional Court in the Dominican Republic. Lopez Rodriguez, as reported in El Caribe, says that the decisions of the Constitutional Court are final. “It was created for that, to interpret the Constitution of the Republic,” he said.
Speaking at the Santo Domingo Cathedral yesterday, Thursday 24 October during a mass for the 72nd anniversary of the Banco de Reservas, the Cardinal said the actions now being taken are long overdue. “To start to regularize all the people who are here illegally of whom there are many. Therefore, I congratulate the organizations that have decided to put in practice what the ruling has said.”
http://tribunalconstitucional.gob.do/sites/default/files/documentos/Sentencia%20TC%200168-13%20-%20C.pdf