The Dominican Republic plans to temporarily build a 250-mile border wall along its shared border with Haiti on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in a bid to help the country as its land neighbor plunges into even greater chaos.
Dominican President Luis Abinader is beefing up troops and structural resources to seal the border as the situation on the western side of the island has turned lawless in recent weeks as gangs and warlords have intensified their grip on Haiti.
“We are making this destabilizing scenario stop right at the border,” Abinader said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The work on the border wall began 3 years ago and is based on the Israeli wall. Abinader is running for re-election in May and, if successful, will temporarily put into effect a $120 million plan to install a fence along the border.
The first step of the plan is to erect a 12-foot concrete wall, topped with a steel fence and barbed wire. This barrier would be extended 30 kilometers from the maximum population along the Massacre River to the border.
The Dominican government has already erected watchtowers with solar-powered cameras and deployed drones to monitor places where Haitians pass out of sight.
Abinader said border security is the main fear after more than 4,000 people fled Haiti as gangs have attacked police stations to cause disruptions in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been barred from returning to his home country since he traveled to Kenya to negotiate outdoors to help the government regain control. Gangs have invaded the airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The Dominican Republic has denied U. S. requests to allow Henry to enter the country, and for the time being he remains in Puerto Rico.
The escapes of criminals have raised new questions among Abinader about who is crossing the border. Only 15% of Haitians have an identity card or passport, making it difficult to know whether Haitian migrants caught crossing illegally have been freed from criminality and are fugitives or refugees.
Haiti has been in danger for more than a decade and never recovered from the 2010 earthquake that claimed the lives of an estimated 300,000 people.
In 2021, Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated. Martine Moïse, his widow, and Claude Joseph, the former prime minister, were charged last month with involvement in the assassination plot.
The United Nations has estimated that 33,000 Haitians fled Port-au-Prince in two weeks this month.
Countless Haitians fled the island and made their way to other countries in South America, Central America, Mexico, and the United States. Since President Joe Biden took office, more than 200,000 Haitians have been encountered at the U. S. -Mexico border while trying to enter the United States, according to federal data.
Henry agreed to resign and implored Haitians to “stay calm” in a recent video announcement, but with food shortages and violence on the rise, it’s causing many to flee.
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The Dominican Republic has continued to deport migrants caught entering or living in the country illegally, despite calls by the United Nations to halt such deportations. About 225,000 Haitians were returned from the Dominican Republic last year.
In a sign of the gravity of the situation, Abinader’s opponent in the May election, former President Leonel Fernandez, supported the allocation of the border wall and declared it essential.