Repatriation - Haiti Observer Blog

The Dominican Republic (DR) Constitutional Court (CC) gave a ruling on the status of undocumented migrant workers from Haiti. It stated undocumented migrants as far back as 1922 were not considered DR residents, although they had settled in the DR. And so even the children they bore with natives were also not considered Dominican. The DR contains 450,000 Haitian-Dominicans who, believe they are Dominican, and yet are being denied identity cards.

The CC ruling came as a result of a case filed by a Haitian-Dominican daughter of immigrants. The DR denied her an identity card because her Haitian parent was an undocumented worker. The Court justices look at undocumented immigrants as "in transit" workers, a sly term meant to obfuscate the fact Haitian immigrants settled in the DR.

Read more →