Dominican Republic Says Will Expel up to 10,000 Haitian Migrants a Week

The Dominican Republic says it plans to expel as many as 10,000 Haitian migrants per week, despite a longstanding call from the United Nations to end forced returns to Haiti amid a surge in gang violence there.

Homero Figueroa, a Dominican presidential spokesman, said on Wednesday that the “operation aims to reduce the excessive migrant populations detected in Dominican communities”.

Figueroa added that the expulsions to Haiti, which shares a border with the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, would begin “immediately”.

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The Dominican government said it took the decision to expel Haitian migrants who do not have immigration status in the country in light of the international community’s “slowness” in restoring stability in Haiti.

“We warned at the United Nations that either it and all the countries that had committed themselves [to helping Haiti] act responsibly in Haiti, or we will,” President Luis Abinader said.

Abinader has taken a hardline against migration from Haiti, expelling 250,000 undocumented Haitians in 2023 alone.

The plan announced on Wednesday would more than double that number in a year — theoretically exceeding the number of Haitians actually living in the Dominican Republic. More than 495,815 Haitians call the Dominican Republic home, according to official statistics.

Rights groups have condemned the expulsions, accusing the Dominican authorities of enacting a racist immigration policy that invokes a wider, historical trend of anti-Haitian discrimination.

A majority of the population in the Dominican Republic identifies as mixed race, while Haiti has a predominantly Black population.

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