the president of Dominican RepublicLuis Abinader, announced that the construction of a controversial Wall that will separate your country from the neighbor Haiti for the purpose of controlling immigration is already underway. According to the president, the wall will have 160 kilometers, an extension that runs almost half of the border between the two countries. The wall, criticized by non-governmental organizations because “awakens xenophobia and racism”, It will be ready in about nine months and will cost about $31 million.
The works were inaugurated by President Abinader on the banks of the Masacre River, in the city of Dajabón, the island’s main border crossing, in a ceremony full of patriotic symbolism, attended by the military leadership and representatives of political parties from all trends. The new fence is a further step in the policy of tightening of the migratory measures that the Dominican Republic has adopted towards Haiti in recent months, measures that the authorities justify due to the worsening of the crisis in the neighboring country.
the details of the wall
The construction of this wall was announced on March 2 as part of a more ambitious project that will eventually cover the entire border, which measures 380 kilometers. “In a period of two years, we want to put an end to the serious problems of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and transit of stolen vehicles that we have suffered for years”assured Abinader.
Although its start was scheduled for the second half of 2021, there were some delays and only this month the president was able to announce the start of construction. The proposal, explained Abinader, includes “a double perimeter fence in the most conflictive sections and a simple one in the rest, in addition to motion sensors, facial recognition cameras, radars and infrared systems”.
The design of the pilot project for this “technological perimeter” on the border, detailed the Dominican Foreign Minister, Roberto Álvarez, was in charge of the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Immigration and crisis in Haiti
Currently the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti has four formal steps, guarded by the armed forces, but also with areas vulnerable to illegal migration and smuggling. The relationship between the two countries, which share the island of Hispaniola, is historically difficult and each new Dominican government sets the issue of migration as a priority: In the Dominican Republic, with 10.5 million inhabitants, there are about 500,000 Haitians according to the National Immigrant Survey.
The proposal for a border wall was announced after the implementation of regularization plans for undocumented immigrants, which are in turn accompanied by massive deportations. On January 14, 2021, Abinader and his counterpart from Haiti, Jovenel Moisewho last July was killed by armed men while resting at homeThey had signed a agreement that included a commitment to take measures against “irregular migratory flow” and “strengthen border security and surveillance.”
Since the announcement of the construction of the wall, living conditions in Haiti have worsened considerably. Added to Moise’s assassination were kidnappings, the emergence of drug gangs that control some sectors, and natural catastrophes.
According to Abinader, the Dominican Republic “cannot take charge of the political and economic crisis, nor solve the rest of the problems” in Haiti. The president reiterated on Sunday that this crisis “must be overcome by Haitians themselves and addressed by the international community”particularly the United States, France and Canada, with support from the European Union and the United Nations (UN).
“Xenophobia and Racism”
William Charpentier, coordinator of the independent National Board for Migration and Refugees, considered that “every time it appears in the world” the idea of building a border wall awakens “resentment, xenophobia and racism”. In the Dominican Republic, Charpentier denounced, there is a “permanent pursuit”with massive deportations of undocumented immigrants and impediments to legal migrants to renew documents or rent a home.
Unlike the big cities, the dynamics at the border is different, with a very lively commercial exchange and people who cross from both sides to work and return home at the end of the day. “There is a constant informal exchange that cannot be considered contraband. If it is blocked, you are going to have flows of internal migration from border towns to urban areas,” he warned.
In addition, “sectors such as agriculture and construction require foreign labor,” said Josué Gastelbondo, head of the mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Santo Domingo. For Gastelbondo, the ideal is that “measures like this one to increase border control” are complemented “with measures that promote regular and orderly migration”.
For his part, the mayor of Dajabón, Santiago Riveronsaid that he disagrees “with this type of wall” because “the real wall is the economic one” and corruption. “A physical wall is going to be built. Now we have to work with the wall in the minds of the military, who are the ones who take advantage of the border and receive a bribe of 100 or 200 pesos (two or four dollars) to let people cross. illegal Haitians to Dominican territory,” Riverón fired.