The Shameful Deportation of Haitians from the Dominican Republic

Guest Blogger: Isobel Healy, first-year law student, University of San Francisco:

On June 17, 2015, the Dominican Republic (DR) began large scale deportation proceedings for Haitian nationals and Dominicans of Haitian decent. These deportations are the result of a 2013 ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal – the DR’s highest court – that rescinded all birthright citizenship granted by the DR Constitution to Dominicans of Haitian decent between 1929 – 2010. Constitutional Tribunal judgment 168-13 retroactively stripped thousands of Dominicans born to Haitian parents after 1929 of their birthright citizenship. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR):

[A]n undetermined but very significant number of Dominicans, estimated by some sources at more than 200,000 people, have been arbitrarily deprived of their nationality. As a result, these individuals have seen their right to legal personhood violated, and they live in a state of extreme vulnerability . . . [t]he ruling has a discriminatory effect, given that it primarily impacts Dominicans of Haitian descent, who are Afro-descendant persons; strips nationality retroactively; and leads to statelessness.

In a response to heavy criticism by the international community, the DR National Congress passed law 169-14 to facilitate naturalization based on birth registration records. However, 169-14 applicability is strictly limited to individuals who are able to prove that their parents emigrated to the DR from Haiti legally. Judgment 168-13, law 169-14, and the subsequent deportation of Haitian nationals and Dominicans of Haitian decent clearly flies in the face of international law. In Yean and Bosico Children v. The Dominican Republic, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the DR government had violated the rights of nationality, equal protection, and humane treatment by refusing to issue birth certificates to two Dominican born children of Haitian decent.

According to Human Rights Watch, many more Dominicans of Haitian decent have been unable to register their children at birth, enroll in school, or find legitimate employment due to the bureaucratic hurdles imposed by judgment 168-13 and law 169-14. After fielding intense scrutiny of its practices towards Haitian nationals and Dominicans of Haitian decent, the DR officially withdrew its membership from IACHR in 2014. In terms of inter-government coordination between the DR and Haiti, there has been little to no sign of any progress, no official protocol on how to handle the new wave of migrants back to Haiti, and no clear idea of how many people will be deported. IACHR has recently documented increased levels of violence resulting from an escalation of xenophobic and racist discourse in the DR, as well as public threats and acts of aggression against persons who publicly criticize the new laws. In its December 31, 2015 country report on human rights in the DR, IACHR noted:

1. [A] climate of intolerance and hostility in the country against those persons, including journalists and human rights defenders, who have been critical of the judgment and have publicly defended the right to Dominican citizenship of those whom this judgment would affect . . . [e]xpressions used against journalists, intellectuals, human rights defenders, and public figures critical of the judgment have taken an alarmingly aggressive tone . . . [c]ritics of the judgment have been called “traitors to the homeland,” and public demonstrations have been staged under the slogan “death to the traitors.” 

Six years ago, the DR was the first country to rush to Haiti’s aid after a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, killing 220,000 people. Another 300,000 people were injured, and an additional 1.5 million people lost their homes. The 2010 Haiti earthquake caused mass devastation and spurred a drastic increase of Haitian migrants to the DR in search of work. Later that same year, the DR revised its constitution to confer citizenship only to those children born on Dominican soil to people with formal legal status in the DR.

 To fully grasp what on the surface appears to be a drastic change of policy by the DR toward its Haitian neighbors, it is essential to examine the tumultuous history of two nations that have unwillingly shared a common border for the past five centuries. In 1498, the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the Americas was founded in Santo Domingo by Bartholomew Columbus (brother of the infamous Christopher) on the island of Hispaniola. Santo Domingo is now the capital of the DR. Spain ceded the western third of the island to France in the late 17th century. As the indigenous Taíno population on the island dwindled due to disease and famine (courtesy of the Europeans), African slave labor became essential to sustain the booming sugar and coffee plantation economy; more African slaves passed through the small French colony in western Hispaniola than any other colony in the Americas. Beginning in the late 17th century, inspired by the French Revolution, an army of slaves and free people of color commanded by Toussaint L’Ouverture and his successor Jean Jacques Dessalines led to the establishment of the first free black republic in the world. In 1804, Dessalines named the former French colony Haiti, “a higher place.” In 1821, the Spanish colonizers were driven out of Santo Domingo by José Núñez de Cáceres.

For a short time, the new Haitian republic united the entire island of Hispaniola. At the time, Haiti was more economically and militarily powerful and had a much larger population than the former Spanish territory, having been the richest colony in the western hemisphere before the Haitian Revolution. Dominican military officers agreed to merge their newly independent republic with Haiti, as they sought political stability and were attracted to Haiti’s perceived wealth and power at the time. However, long years of war had destroyed the plantation infrastructure on the island. France, Britain, and the U.S. refused to recognize Haiti as a sovereign nation. In addition, France demanded that Haiti pay reparations for French losses after the Revolution. Growing economic tensions made the Haitian government increasingly unpopular on the island, and in 1844, the Dominicans overthrew the Haitian government and formed a nation of their own – the Dominican Republic. The twenty-year struggle for independence had a profound impact on DR national identity; it was during this period that Dominicans began actively rejecting their shared African roots, language and culture. Today, although 90% of Dominicans are African descendants, most identify with their Spanish roots. Juan Rodriguez, an anthropologist and Director of Cultural Diversity at the Dominican Ministry of Culture, says, “Dominicans are in complete denial of who they are.”

Between 1930-1961, the DR was controlled by dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo – who claimed DR as a white nation – and even wore makeup to lighten his own complexion. Trujillo feared the “darkening” of Dominican people and tirelessly promoted anti-Haitian rhetoric. In 1937, inspired by reports of Haitians stealing cattle and crops from Dominican farmers along the northwest border, Trujillo ordered his troops to murder 15,0000 – 20,000 Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian decent. Known as the “Parsley Massacre,” this act of genocide is still not well known outside of the Caribbean.

      Haiti too, has had its share of brutal and corrupt leadership – notably François (Papa Doc) Duvalier, who stole millions of dollars of foreign aid from Haiti’s treasury and ruled the country with an iron fist with the aid of the Tontons Macoutes militia between 1957-1971. Papa Doc was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier, who continued his father’s despotic legacy until he was forced to leave the country in 1986. Both Duvalier regimes were supported by the U.S. and French governments.

The new deportations of Haitian nationals and Dominicans of Haitian decent from the DR are a culmination of a shared history of colonization, slavery and the neo-imperialist policies of Western powers – in particular the U.S. and France. Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere even before the 2010 earthquake, did not finish repaying its 19th century debts to France and the U.S. until the mid-20th century. Particularly notable are the parallels between prevailing U.S. policies and attitudes towards migrants and refugees from Mexico and Central America and the DR policies and attitudes directed at Haitian migrants that began in the early 20th century. In 1915, the U.S. Marine Corps arrived in Port Au Prince to enforce the U.S. trade embargo against the Haitian government. In 1916, the U.S. occupation expanded into the DR (with the cooperation of the DR government) with the purpose of appropriating land to expand the sugar industry. However, the wages provided were so low, few Dominicans would do the work, and 1000s of Haitians were encouraged to cross the border to seek employment in the fields. A new generation of Dominicans learned to see themselves as superior to their Haitian neighbors – who still work in the cane fields for very low wages. This division of labor effectively created a new class – one defined largely by race.

The Guardian reports that Haitian workers have long been source of cheap labor in the DR, in agriculture, construction and domestic work. Yet, despite their substantial contribution to the DR economy, Haitians are typically the lowest paid in the workforce and often lack access to essential services. Likewise, Latino/a workers in the U.S. perform jobs that many U.S. born citizens refuse to do – including backbreaking labor in agriculture, construction and domestic work.

The current treatment of Haitian migrants by the DR is an outgrowth of U.S. neo-imperialist policies aimed at the DR and other Latin American countries. Deportations of Haitians from the DR have taken place several times over the years, typically coinciding with cycles of economic and political difficulties. The last mass deportation of Haitians took place in 1991, when 35,000 Haitian nationals and Dominicans of Haitian decent were expelled from the DR after then Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s harsh criticism of Dominican treatment of Haitian migrant workers in the cane fields. That same year, Aristide was ousted from the presidency by a U.S. backed military coup.

The total number of deportations between June 2015 and now varies by source, but according to the documentary Needed but Unwanted: Haitians in the Dominican Republic, at least 15,000 Haitian nationals and Dominicans of Haitian decent have been deported in the last year alone. Close to 70,000 Haitian nationals have “voluntarily” returned to Haiti. The DR has justifiably criticized the Haitian government for failing to properly document its citizens. Haitian nationals have also complained that they have not received the support they need from Haitian authorities to regularize their status in Haiti. Amid all the ambiguities, what is clear is that both governments have repeatedly failed those most in need – the poorest Haitian nationals and Dominicans of Haitian decent who have been forced to leave their families and livelihoods behind in the DR in exchange for indefinite refugee camps on the border.

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