OPINION: Human rights for all
In the wake of a domestic atrocity with the Charleston massacre, our hearts are also heavy with pain for the humanitarian crisis in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is expected to begin the deportation of (mostly Haitian) foreign-born migrant workers and residents born in the Dominican Republic to undocumented parents. Many of these Haitian workers entered decades ago, when the Dominican government welcomed them to work in sugarcane fields. But these longstanding residents never received official documentation, though many claim the Dominican Republic as their only home, having lived there their entire lives.
In 2013, their citizenship was revoked and they were rendered stateless. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights said last year that the law violated the American Convention on Human Rights, but the Dominican government to date gave no response. Later in 2014 the government slightly mitigated the unlawful de-nationalization, creating a path to citizenship for undocumented children born in the country through what was called a regularization process. Applicants seeking to adjust their status were supposed to obtain the necessary documents by February of 2015 and complete the process by June 17 or face deportation. But this regularization process has been fraught with delays, bureaucratic impediments, and corruption, causing anguish and uncertainty. Now after the deadline has passed, the world awaits a mass deportation, a potential refugee crisis, and witnessing people of Haitian descent hiding away in desperation to escape a grim and uncertain future.
For Dominicans of Haitian descent, obtaining the necessary documents to prove their citizenship is challenging. Many immigrant workers cannot present work permits because employers refuse to admit hiring undocumented immigrants and those born in rural areas or at home are typically not issued birth certificates. Those living in poverty were either unable or actively prevented from registering births during the 1929 – 2007 period. Compounding the difficulty of the process are the costs associated with obtaining the required paperwork and transportation to immigration processing centers. Even those who successfully manage to work through these difficulties face severely under-resourced and sometimes corrupt processing centers.