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HAVANA – The Dominican government has deported at least 1,800 young unaccompanied Haitian migrants this year, sending them back to their crisis-hit country, UNICEF said.
The Dominican Republic has denied the claim, which came Tuesday amid an intensification of the government’s crackdown on migration in response to an ongoing cholera outbreak and gang violence in Haiti. The two countries share a 240-mile border on the island of Hispaniola.
The crackdown has drawn sharp complaints from foreign observers, adding to the United States, who have accused the country of mass deportations, racist remedial of migrants and detention of Haitians in poor conditions.
Among those fleeing to the Dominican Republic are women and children, many of whom are being sent back to Haiti through other border points, where they have been won through UNICEF partners at the border, according to the organization.
The information was first reported via CNN and was shown through UNICEF, which declined to comment further. It’s unclear whether the children were deported without their parents, separated from the journey or fled Haiti alone.
Venancio Alcántara, director of the Dominican Republic’s migration authority, denied the accusations and said the firm follows express procedures with young migrants and that “minors are with their parents at all times. “
“All evictions are carried out with total and absolute respect for human dignity and human rights,” Alcantara wrote on a Tuesday.
Migration-fueled tensions have been simmering for years between the two countries, but have worsened since the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, which plunged an already crisis-ridden Haiti into chaos.
The Dominican government says stricter border controls and deportations are for national security amid growing unrest in the neighboring country. Last week, an unidentified number of protesters attempted to set fire to the Dominican consulate in Cap-Haïtien, a municipality in the north of the country, the Haitian government said Wednesday.
Last week, Haiti accused its neighbor of subjecting fleeing Haitians to “inhumane, ruthless and degrading conditions,” while the U. S. Embassy in the country’s capital, Santo Domingo, warned that darker-skinned Americans could be targeted through the country’s authorities.
“There are reports that detainees are held in overcrowded detention centers, with no opportunity to challenge their detention and without access to food or toilets, for days, before being released or deported to Haiti,” the U. S. added. U. S.
The Dominican Republic said it “flatly rejects” the allegations, which it says are backed by evidence, and said they will only contribute to deportations.
Authorities say they deported 43,900 migrants, mostly Haitians, between July and October, according to figures from the country’s Foreign Ministry. In September and October alone, the number of evictions increased by around 50 in line with the hundred.
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