Immigration

Here is a picture of the localityTête-à-l'Eau, Banane in Bota, Haiti. It is an area targeted to provide housing for the Haitians arriving from the Dominican Republic.

This image was provided thanks to Mr. Maxo JOSEPH who went to Tête-à-l'Eau, Banane, localité Bota to see the progress as the Haitian Government promised to welcome more than tree thousand people.

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants in the D.R of whom most were Haitians or people of Haitian descent failed to register themselves within the Dominican deadline on June 17, 2015. Some human rights activists have called for an extension of this deadline. Many undocumented immigrants stood in the long lines outside the government offices for days, but were turned away repeatedly as they were told they lack necessary documents. Many of them could not come back as they could not convince their employers to give them time off of work to go register. As per the report of the Interior and Police minister Jose Ramon Fadul, so far 275,000 undocumented foreigners (about 50% of the total undocumented immigrants in the D.R) have been registered. The D.R authority is going to work with the remaining because they don't want to mistreat anyone, but want everyone to be regularized.

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The Dominican Republic has officially started the long awaited deportation of Dominicans of Haitian descents. As per a report dated July 2nd, Dominicans immigration officers/polices have started visiting the homes of the susceptible deportees and forcing them to dress up and put on a bus with very little items-- leaving everything behind. They confined those unfortunates in the vehicle for 15 hours without any food, water or bathroom, until they were dropped in the Haitian border. Some of the victims have reported their identity cards were either rejected or destroyed during the time of deportation. In some cases, victims born in the Dominican Republic were not allowed to prove their nationality. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (ICCHR) has condemned the Dominican Republic as "internationally liable for the violation" of articles of the American Convention of Human and children Rights against Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent. The U.N. mission has decided to assess the country's immigration situation in consequence of the mass deportation.

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Let's call a dog a dog. What the Dominicans are currently doing to Haitians and Dominican-Haitians is not the behavior of a civilized society. At least we can go along with the statement of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio who described the behaviors of the Dominican government as illegal, immoral and racist.

The Dominican Republic (DR) is getting ready to expel thousands upon thousands of Haitian migrants and their natural-born progeny as the date for implementation of the new immigration law draws near. Human rights organizations claim the law is based on race-hatred of darker-skinned Haitians.

DR President Medina states no mass deportations will happen and 210,000-plus Haitians have registered for the regularization program. Meanwhile dozens of buses stand poised to transport deportees to Haiti's border.

NYC Mayor de Blasio denounces DR Haitian Migrant Deportation Plan

The Dominican Republic's (DR) plan to deport Dominican-born Haitians has drawn the ire of NYC Mayor de Blasio. He describes the DR's intentions as "illegal, immoral, and racist".

In Washington D.C. the Association of Haitian Professionals (AHP) are organizing a protest at the
Embassy of the Dominican Republic, where they will call for ending deportations. AHP says Dominicans target anyone, who possess "Haitian facial features" and commit violent acts on them.

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Here is a picture of a family in Malpasse who just arrived with children> They don't know anyone in Haiti. This family is among the newly-deported Dominican-Haitians

First Deportees arrive in Malpasse: Martelly denies their existence

Fond Bayard school in Malpasse, near the Dominican-Haitian border, has been converted into a shelter for Dominican-Haitians, recently deported by the DR.

A significant number of deportees are Dominican-born Haitians, descendants of Haitian migrants. According to the Dominican Constitution they have legal status. But a Constitutional Court ruling says they must leave since they don't have the proper papers for citizenship status.

Haitian President Martelly has turned his back on the deportees, ensuring they remain stateless.

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Mayor Martin Walsh urges Dominicans to reverse course in regard to the deportation of Haitians and Dominican-Haitians

Boston Mayor tells DR to stop Deportations

Boston Mayor Walsh responded to the Dominican Republic's intention to exile Dominican-born Haitians, stating it was ". . . troubling to see a . . . country target a minority group for exclusion" He exhorted the DR to not proceed with deportations; instead to be aware of ". . . the value of diversity . . ."

Walsh joins NYC Mayor Di Blasio in condemning the DR's "immoral" and "racist" policy.

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Immigration assistance is accomplished through the Refugee Services Program located in Miami. The agency helps new immigrants land jobs, learn English, get health care, and seek legal advice if needed.

The Florida Department of Children and Families coordinates the Refugee Services Program. It applies for federal grants to provide services and receives them through a competitive contract procurement procedure. Cash and medical assistance lasts for eight months once the immigrant arrives in the country.

Tallahassee, Florida
32399-0700
Phone: (850) 487-1111
Fax: (850) 922-2993
Contact Refugee Services:

Miami 786-257-5173 | Lourdes_Leconte@dcf.state.fl.us
786-457-3561 | Erica_Perdomo@dcf.state.fl.us

Pensacola & Tallahassee 850-778-4065 | Theresa_Leslie@dcf.state.fl.us

Jacksonville 904-485-9540 | Debbie-Ansbacher@dcf.state.fl.us

Orlando 407-317-7336 | Pedro_Padua@dcf.state.fl.us

Tampa & Naples 813-545-1716 | Janet_Blair@dcf.state.fl.us

Ft. Lauderdale & West Palm Beach 561-227-6722 | Miriam_Rosario@dcf.state.fl.us

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Here is a picture where several Dominicans in New York City are Protesting Haitian Deportations in Dominican Republic.

On Wednesday, June 17, 2015, the Dominicans living in New York came out in a move of solidarity and protest against a controversial Dominican court ruling supporting a debatable immigration policy which may render thousands of Dominican-Haitians stateless. The demonstrators assembled outside their Dominic consulate near the Time Square to show their stance against the anti-racism policy. A 2013 ruling has retroactively changed the nationality criteria for those born to immigrant parents in Haiti since 1929. The ruling was enacted in May 2014 and it allowed the susceptible Dominicans a time limit to establish their citizenship, which expired on June 17, 2015. One of the demonstrators, when asked, has described this move by the Dominican government as unprecedented because there is no other government in the world which could ever do this and it is more surprising because all the international bodies are mum on this. Some of the New York City's elected leaders and officials came out in support of these Dominican-Haitians. Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a statement, has called on the Dominican government to respect and guarantee basic rights to all.

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Here is a long list of haitians in line applying just before the deadline to avoid deportation from Dominican Republic.

Dominican Expected To Begin Deporting Undocumented Immigrants
As the deadline for registering the adjustment of residential status has expired on June 17, 2015, the Dominican Republic is expected to begin deporting an estimated susceptible 500,000 undocumented immigrants of whom most are Haitians or Dominicans of Haitian descent. The D.R. government considers this a legitimate process to deal with the undocumented immigrants while ignoring the distinct characteristics of them. There are two distinct Haitian populations in the D.R-- Haitian immigrants engaged in low wage work and Dominicans of Haitian descent who were born in the country as citizen until a controversial court ruling unlawfully denationalized them in 2013. The majority of them do not speak Creole, know no one in Haiti, but would be uprooted from the place which they have known so far as their home in the Dominican Republic. Historically, many Dominican nationalists, by labeling its darker-skinned inhabitants as 'immigrants', have advocated to expel them from the country.

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If you think you have seen enough about Haitian behaviors, you have not. What you are looking at is what the Haitian government calls Haiti Reception centers for Returnees from Dominican Republic. Some how, the Haitian government expects to receive about 400,000 people in this area. This preparation has been ongoing for over one month now when the government said that this site is subject to welcome our compatriots.

Marie Yolène Gilles, the Programme Manager of the National Network Defenses of Human Rights (RNDDH) has revealed in a statement on June 18, 2015, that no structure has yet been built and nothing concrete step has been taken on the Haitian side of Dominican border other than a poster indicating the proposed site of the shelters on a vast desert. Although since the late May, the government had confidently continued its announcement about two welcome centers for the returnees, the GAAR (Groupe d'Appui aux Rapatriés & Réfugiés) had only traced two trucks, one tractor, two generators and two guards and a placard indicating : Welcome" on the 3 project sites located in Malpasse.

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The Dominican Republic manages to remove the citizenship of up over 200,000 of its people and got away with it. They are Dominicans of Haitian descent.

On June 17, the deadline for registering Haitian migrants on official migration status in the Dominican Republic has expired. Now about 500,000 Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent are facing threats of forcible removal. The Dominican Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that those who have failed to fulfill the conditions of residency status will be made to leave the country. The stand of the Dominican government, particularly in relation to the 'Dominicans of Haitian descent' is very strong. From the ongoing situation, it appears that they have initially succeeded to term them as illegal immigrants in their country of birth. An estimated number of 200,000 people of first-generation Haitian residents were born and raised in the D.R who know themselves as Dominicans. They are now being told that they are Haitian and subject to forcible expulsion from a place they call home and to a country where they know no-one.

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