The Haitian government is prepared to coordinate logistics to repatriate Dominicans of Haitian descent after the deadline to “regularize foreigners” expires, Haiti Foreign Affairs Minister Lener Renauld said Thursday.
During a meeting with Dominican officials, Renauld presented a series of criteria proposals for Dominican authorities to consider to ease the repatriation process and receive deportees on Haiti soil.
“Some criteria for deportations have been suggested to coordinate the reception of their citizens, such as points and departure times,” Dominican Foreign Affairs Minister Andres Navarro said. We’re prepared to discuss what the Dominican Republic has done to “defend human rights and benefit immigrants, while enforcing our laws.”
In early May, the Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad held a meeting with Haitian officials about the reparation process of the deported and denationalized citizens, unable to regain their Dominican citizenship.
“Our situation worsens because although there is a law, because the people who’ve been able to get their card and certificate are a minority,” said Elena Lorac, who was born and raised in Dominican Republic to Haitian parents. Last Monday, Lorac joined the Denationalized People’s Solidarity Committee to urge the government to use “maximum restraint and precaution to prevent deporting those born in the country of undocumented foreign parents.”
The tentative deadline to register for the National Plan to Regularize Aliens is June 17. Dominican Haitian advocates are working to extend the deadline to give more people time to apply for citizenship.