Most Haitian women come to give birth to the country. LD /
Mao, Valverde, DR
Many Haitian immigrants, with the advice of traffickers of undocumented persons who operate on the border from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, began to use the modality of entering the country with children and adolescents to protect themselves and evade persecution, arrests, and repatriation by military and immigration authorities, said some detainees.
According to intelligence agencies of the border and the Northwest, it has been possible to verify that women of Haitian nationality are crossing with Haitian children without being related to them.
Some of the detained immigrants said that they prefer to cross the border in the company of their minor children because when they leave them in the care of other people in Haiti, they are exposed to all kinds of abuse.
The Fourth Brigade of the Army of the Dominican Republic, directed by colonel German Rosario Perez, informed the Listin Diario that 83 illegal Haitians, 27 minors, 26 women, and 30 men, were arrested on Monday in the Gozuela community, Monte Cristi province. Also in operations carried out by the military, in coordination with Migration officials, last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, in the municipalities of Monción, Las Matas de Santa Cruz, Loma de Cabrera, and the municipal district of Santa María, 616 Haitians in rare migratory conditions were arrested, of which 540 were men and 76 women.
The minors
Some of those detained for repatriation purposes were not related to the minors, but they accompanied them to cross the country. “They told us that if we crossed with children and adolescents, things would be better for us here,” said a Haitian woman detained for investigation purposes and who identified herself as Laurane Celestín Pierre.
The immigrant, whose Spanish is barely understood, said that she does not want to continue living in Haiti because there is no “comía” (food), there are many kidnappings, robberies in the streets and houses, there are no “empleás” (jobs),” she complained.
IN POINTS
Abuses.
Other Haitian women explained that they prefer to emigrate to the Dominican Republic accompanied by their children and not leave them in the care of others because, in their country, they are victims of physical and sexual abuse.
New.
The trafficking of minors is a recent discovery that the Dominican authorities stationed at the Northern border had not detected for at least four months.
Inconvenient.
If the children and adolescents are not accompanied by their parents, relatives, and guardians, the Dominican authorities cannot repatriate them.