Rising Violence in Haiti and Deportations From the Dominican Republic

By Jose Aguilar

Last month, the Dominican Republic started its own version of “mass deportations” of Haitian migrants. The president, Luis Abinader, said that the goal is to deport 10,000 Haitian migrants a week. This undermines the reality of the country’s economy; sectors like agriculture, construction, and tourism rely on Haitian workers. The government’s approach is causing labor force disruptions, which have also concerned real estate, tourist, and hospitality representatives. Deportations create significant uncertainty since construction projects, banana farms, and other business operations are halted due to a lack of workers. Critics of Abinader’s deportation policy state that this is a strategy to create fear amongst the immigrant population. 

Poverty and political and economic turmoil are the root causes of the rising violence and migration from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. A new quarterly United Nations (U.N.) human rights report states that the gang war in Haiti is what has led violence to rise significantly between July and September of this year. The reports claim that gang violence has displaced thousands as they fight for power and that law enforcement has engaged in extrajudicial killings. Therefore, thousands of Haitian migrants flee their violence-ridden country for a better life in the Dominican Republic. On Wednesday of this week, El Salvador’s congress approved sending troops to Haiti. Salvadorian officials state that their troops will focus on medical evacuations since that has been their expertise with other U.N. missions. The statement did not include the number of troops and equipment that would be sent. Given the magnitude of the problem, it is very unlikely that additional troops will have a significant effect on the gang war. However, more troops will also contribute to stabilizing the country and help distribute aid around the country.