President Danilo Medina met with Latin American ambassadors accredited in the country on Friday, 25 October to present the government’s position in adhering to the Constitutional Court 168-13 ruling that orders the implementation of the National Foreigner Legalization Plan. The ruling confirms the common practice of not automatically granting Dominican nationality to children born in the Dominican Republic to parents with illegal status.
President Medina invited 16 Latin American ambassadors to be personally informed of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) decision to prepare a report with an inventory of individuals covered by the decision to expedite the provision of temporary residency to people who have lived in the country for many years. He announced that the National Foreigner Legalization Plan would be presented in 60 days.
Ambassadors Jose Marcus Vinicius de Sousa (Brazil), Fernando Barrera (Chile), Alexis Bandrich (Cuba), Alejandro Jose Bitron Porras (Guatemala), Jose Ignacio Pina Rojas (Mexico), Nelson Artola Escobar (Nicaragua), Enrique Palacios Reyes (Peru), Alberto Efrain Castellar Padilla (Venezuela), Palmiro Leon Soria Sucedo (Bolivia), Carlos Alberto Calles Castillo (El Salvador) and Alberto Magno Castillero Pinilla (Panama) attended the session, along with counselor ministers Pablo Maria Saenz (Argentina), Carlos Alban Franco (Colombia), and foreign government representatives Giovanni Darquera (Ecuador), General Oscar Solis Rangel (Costa Rica) and Bella Garcia (Honduras).
President Danilo Medina was accompanied by Minister of the Presidency Gustavo Montalvo, Minister of Interior and Police Jose Ramon Fadul who chairs the National Immigration Council, legal advisor to the Executive Branch Cesar Pina Toribio and deputy Minister of Foreign Relations Jose Manuel Trullols.
To familiarize the foreign diplomats with the Executive Branch’s official position on Ruling 168-13, on Thursday, 24 October President Medina met with diplomats from European Union countries, including Steven Fisher (United Kingdom), Blandine Kreiss (France), Jaime Lacadena (Spain), Olindo D’Agostino (Italy), Victoria Zimmermann (Germany), Johan Hendrich (Netherlands) and Alberto Navarro (European Union).
Also attending were Dominican ambassador to Washington, D.C., Anibal de Castro, UN Ambassador Virgilio Alcantara and the ambassador to the Organization of American States, Pedro Berges.
The chairman of the National Immigration Council, Interior and Police minister Jose Ramon Fadul said that “the government is giving the ambassadors correct and adequate information and the document we published about our position on the decision of the Constitutional Court, with which we must comply, based on Article 184 of the Constitution of the Republic.”
http://tribunalconstitucional.gob.do/node/1764
http://presidencia.gob.do/comunicados/ejecutivo-comparte-posicion-oficial-sentencia-tc-con-jefes-de-misiones-en-rd