Nationality will not be a question on the Dominican census

According to a coalition of civil society organizations, the United Church, business leaders, millions of Haitian immigrants, and other nationalities living illegally in the country will have their status changed due to the X National Census of Population and Housing, and supporters of Dominican sovereignty. The National Statistics Office (ONE) and the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development (MEPYD) were accused by representatives of various movements of creating a census ballot that was against the country’s laws and the Dominican Constitution.

They argued that neither the question of nationality nor the verification of documents proving an immigrant’s legal residence is necessary for the census ballot released by the National Statistics Office (ONE). In this regard, they issued a warning, noting that the official X Census questionnaire makes the false assumption that all respondents are Dominicans or lawful residents. They emphasized that only the respondent’s name and the mother’s nationality are questioned in Section VI of the census ballot; the respondent’s nationality is not.

They also criticized the census for not requesting proof of nationality from respondents.