Haiti’s foreign minister, Dominique Dupuy has criticised a policy announced last week by the neighboring Dominican Republic to deport tens of thousands of migrants back to Haiti, where gang violence is causing a devastating humanitarian crisis.
Haitian Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy said on X. “We strongly condemn these dehumanizing acts and demand respect and justice.
“The brutal scenes of roundups and deportations that we are witnessing are an affront to human dignity.”
The Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, said last week that it will deport up to 10,000 illegal migrants per week, marking a significant rise.
The Dominican Republic has deported more than 9,000 people this month, with more than 7,000 deported since Thursday, according to the country’s migration agency in a statement released on Monday.
More than 4,900 Haitians were among those killed, according to a Dominican official.
The Dominican agency stated that the deportations were being carried out in accordance with human rights principles.
The Dominican government blames Haiti’s disarray for crime and security concerns on the Dominican side of the island, and it has grown impatient with the slow pace of an international security force tasked with resolving the crisis.
The United Nations has asked countries in the region to halt deportations of Haitians home to a situation of danger.
If the Dominican Republic follows through on its plan, the number deported in a year would rise sharply from more than 200,000 Haitians forcibly returned last year.
