Dominican Republic to deport up to 10,000 Haitians per week

President Luis Abinader will initiate massive deportations of Haitians living illegally in the country and will expel up to 10,000 per week. The decision is due to the excess of Haitian migrants in the country.

Government spokesman Homero Figueroa told the press that authorities have seen an increase in the number of Haitian migrants due to the failure of the U.N.-backed mission in Haiti. He also said that it had been decided to increase border surveillance and control. In 2023, the Dominican Republic deported almost 200,000 people, and in the first half of this year has expelled at least 67,000.

The U.N. recently claimed that more than 3,600 people died from violence in Haiti this year. In October 2023, the U.N. Security Council approved the dispatch of a Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM) to assist the Haitian police. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that lives continue to be lost to senseless criminality.

This week's announcement comes after a few days earlier President Luis Abinader announced at the U.N. General Assembly that he would take "drastic measures" if the mission in Haiti fails. It is led by nearly 400 Kenyan police officers, backed by just over 20 Jamaican police and soldiers and two senior military officers from Belize. The United States has warned that the mission is insufficient.

Haitian gangs control 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince, and violence has left nearly 1 million Haitians homeless in recent years, while thousands more have fled the country.