Santo Domingo.- The candidate tothe presidency for Dominican Republic’s biggest opposition party (PRM) on Thursdaycalled the Dominican government "irresponsible" for “filling” thecountry with Haitians, for failing to enforce the Immigration Law.
Luis Abinader said there’ll be "notone illegal immigrant" in the Dominican Republic if he wins the May 15election, but with actions that respect human rights.
He said most of the undocumented Haitiansbegan arriving in Dominican Republic after 2004, on the government’s failure toenact immigration legislation passed that year by Congress, controlled by the rulingparty (PLD).
Interviewed on Revisa 110 Channel39, the opposition leader however ruled out that Haiti’s turmoil poses a threatto national sovereignty. “That nation is totally different from DominicanRepublic.”
On the lack of a proper census, thenumber of Haitians living in the country range from as high as more than 1.5million to as low as a little more than 500,000.
Last year the Government implemented the program “Foreigners RegularizationPlan,” with around 300,000 Haitians having registered to legalize their immigrationstatus through the process still in effect