Hundreds of children have been expelled from the Dominican Republic without their parents, according to UNICEF, amid a sweeping government push to remove suspected undocumented migrants from the country.
The United Nations Children’s Agency has received at least 1800 unaccompanied children delivered by Dominican immigration authorities into Haiti since the year began, a spokesperson told CNN this week.
Many arrive without identity documents and are “shipped” into the country amid adult deportees, the spokesperson also said –– raising the question of how Dominican authorities ascertained that they belonged in Haiti at all.
Back in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, immigration detention centres sometimes hold parents without children.
“One woman had a diaper bag with her, but not the baby. [Immigration agents] had told her that she couldn’t carry her baby with her, and that they would bring it to the bus – but then they didn’t bring the baby to the bus,” said Yoana Kuzmova, a researcher at Dominican migration policy thinktank Center for Migratory Observation and Social Development in the Caribbean.
The Dominican Republic has long sought to reduce the Haitian population within its borders.
But the latest wave of deportations this year is taking place with stunning speed and breadth, prompting critics to accuse the Caribbean nation’s government of racial profiling, chaotic execution, and a disregard for human rights and families as immigration agents hustle people out of the country.
The United States embassy in the Dominican Republic has warned Black and “darker-skinned Americans” that they risk “increased interaction” with Dominican authorities amid the immigration crackdown.
In a statement released Saturday, the embassy described “reports of the unequal treatment” of US citizens based on skin colour.
But Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader has rejected calls to stop the deportations, arguing that the Dominican Republic already supports neighbouring Haiti more than any other country in the world.
CNN has reached out to the Dominican Republic’s migration institute for comment.
In October alone, 14,801 people were sent to Haiti from the Dominican Republic, according to records by Haitian aid organisation Groupe d’Appui des Rapatriés et Réfugiés – an average of 477 people each day.
Social media videos appearing to show Dominican immigration authorities conducting raids have caused panic among Haitians and people of Haitian origin in the Dominican Republic, with even some who are legal residents telling CNN that they are afraid to leave their homes.
Haiti’s Communications Ministry called on its neighbor to respect “human dignity” on Sunday, citing the “stunning images.