Amnesty International slams Dominican Republic on ‘mass deportations’

Santo Domingo.- Amnesty International on Wednesday said it’spaying attention to the mass deportations of undocumented immigrants expectedto start after the government program to legalize aliens concludes midnight Wednesday.

It said its delegation "is visiting the DominicanRepublic until 27 June to monitor the processes of deportations of migrantsannounced by the Dominican government, where thousands of Dominicans of Haitiandescent could be expelled from their own country."

It said Dominican authorities have made clear that thosemigrants who didn’t register for the program to legalize aliens will bedeported starting 6pm tomorrow, June 18.

"International standards governing deportationproceedings are absolutely clear: governments should examine each caseindividually and conduct a thorough and fair process, with the right tojudicial appeal, before making a decision," the human rights organization saidin a statement

With that in mind Amnesty delegation leader Chiara Liguoristresses that international law expressly prohibited the expulsion ofDominicans, whether national or stateless persons. "It’s unfortunate thatthe Dominican Republic decides to ignore its international obligations andcarry out arbitrary processes that will leave millions of people homeless."