Economists say country can’t take any more Haitian immigrants

Santo Domingo, DR.
The Dominican College of Economists (Codeco) stated that the Dominican economy could not support any more illegal immigration of Haitians and affirmed that there is no room to give them more jobs when there are more than one million living in the Dominican Republic.

The professional association indicated that, although trade with Haiti has continued its dynamism, and through the border enters a part of the goods consumed by its population, the Dominican economy does not support more immigration due to the high cost that this means for the Dominican State. Furthermore, Codeco indicated, in a press release, that the crisis experienced by the Haitian population exceeds the capacities of the country.

“There is no longer room to give them more employment when there are more than one million Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, of which some 700 are employed in different sectors contributing with their labor to national development and sending remittances of some US$1 billion annually, including those that are not registered in the national accounts,” the economists said.

Codeco also highlighted the high cost to the national budget of protecting the border, plus the expenses in education and health to attend to hundreds of thousands of illegal Haltians, which it said affects the capacity to protect the two million Dominicans living in poverty and need of government assistance. They said that, at present, the country is helping the Haitian population by supplying the goods they need, sometimes creating food shortages in the domestic market.

They added that the Dominican government, with its migration control policy, is exercising its right to protect its borders by preventing the Haitian crisis from spreading to its territory and called not to confuse “racism with history,” and said that “we have lived peacefully with Haitians residing in the country for decades, many have been related to Dominicans and have made friendships and businesses in various sectors of the economy, but we can never accept that, by history, there is hatred and fear before the threats of unification.”

Tense situation
The economists explain that the situation with Haiti is becoming increasingly tense due to pressure from United Nations organizations for the Dominican Republic to take in refugees from that nation “who are fleeing, more than anything else, due to extreme poverty and lack of food, than for reasons of insecurity due to the actions of armed gangs.”

Codeco points out that this uncontrolled immigration could be infiltrated by elements of armed gangs who want to reproduce the same actions in the country.

14.52% of Dominican exports go to Haiti
Total exports for 2022 amounted to US$12,390.93 million. Three countries are the main destinations of these, accounting for 51.75% Switzerland (24.03%), Haiti (14.52%), and the United States (13.20%).