Economists say country can’t take more Haitian immigrants

The Dominican College of Economists (Codeco) stated that the Dominican economy can not support more illegal Haitian immigrants and that there is no room to give them more jobs with over a million people already living in the Dominican Republic. The professional union stated that, while trade with Haiti has remained dynamic and a portion of the goods consumed by its population enters through the border, the Dominican economy can not support more immigration due to the high cost to the Dominican State. In a statement, Codeco said that the Haitian population’s crisis exceeds the country’s capacity.

“There is no longer room to give them more employment when there are over a million Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, of whom about 700,000 are employed in various sectors, contributing their labor to national development and sending remittances worth about US$1 billion annually, including those who do not register in the national accounts,” the economists argue. Similarly, Codeco emphasized the high cost of border security for the national budget, as well as education and health costs to serve hundreds of thousands of illegal Haltians, which it claims undermines the ability to protect the two million Dominicans who live in poverty and rely on government assistance. They say that the country currently helps the Haitian population by supplying the goods they need, sometimes creating food shortages in the domestic market.

He went on to say that the Dominican government, through its migratory control policy, is exercising its right to protect its borders by preventing the Haitian crisis from spreading to its territory, and that “we have lived together peacefully with the Haitians who have resided in the country for decades, many of whom have become related to Dominicans and have made friends and businesses in various sectors of the economy, but we can never forget.”