Majority of Dominicans reject illegal Haitians demands

A large majority of Dominican citizens (69%) do not agree that an illegal immigrant working in the country should be allowed to demand rights or have a say in government policies, according to the political culture survey of the Instituto de Investigación Social para el Desarrollo (Institute of Social Research for Development).

This opinion finds greater support among people over 54 years of age, especially men residing in the eastern and metropolitan areas.

Likewise, 45% oppose the idea that migrants should receive social services (health, education, and housing) from the government, compared to 23% who agreed.

On the other hand, 37% disagreed that the government should grant work permits to undocumented Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, compared to 33% in favor.

Another data thrown in the survey is that 70 percent of the Dominicans consider that the Haitians who come to the country do the work that the Creoles do not want to do, while only 28% believe that these foreigners take away jobs.

Discrimination
Forty-nine percent of Dominicans believe there is a lot of discrimination towards Haitians, a perception stronger among women and the younger population.

Thirty-two percent believe there is little discrimination, while 18% affirm that there is none.

In this regard, the study indicates that the older population, with more exposure to the anti-Haitian discourse positioned from the strata of power, tends to deny the existence of discrimination against Haitian immigrants to a much greater extent.

“The differences by age reflect the change in the predominantly state discourse that, although with many nuances, as Dominican society has opened up to democracy, information societies and social mobilizations generated from the 168-13 ruling, from civil society organizations and actors in the system with access to mass media with awareness of the issue, there is a greater tendency to look at Haitian migration from a human rights perspective,” states the research applied to a sample of 2,500 people across the country.