Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D) has joined numerous House members in an effort to tackle pressing immigration concerns regarding Haiti. 13 House Democrats have collaborated in penning a letter and directing it to the U.S. Department of State and the international community. The lawmakers called for an investigation into the mass deportations of Haitian migrants.
The lawmakers question “the discriminatory, anti-Black migration enforcement practices taking place in the Dominican Republican,” and Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick took to social media to share the letter.
In the letter, the House Democrats question the mass deportations conducted in the Dominican Republic, asking why nearly “60,000 Haitians and people of Haitian ancestry” were deported between August 1, 2022 and October 31, 2022.
Recently, I led a letter urging the U.S. Department of State and the international community to investigate the mass deportations of Haitian migrants and the discriminatory, anti-Black migration enforcement practices taking place in the Dominican Republic. https://t.co/rwkb70jq4Q
— Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (@CongresswomanSC) December 2, 2022
The Democrats specify that “on November 12, 2022, the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, issued Decree 668-22,” which directs the National Police to crease “a specialized unit for the prevention and prosecution of invasions and irregular occupations of private property and the State.” The lawmakers mention that although the decree does not directly name Haitians “as the only migrant group subject to arrest or deportation... Haitians have been the main nationality targeted by the decree, as well as Dominicans of Haitian decent [sic] and Dominicans who were denationalized by La Sentencia in 2013.”
The lawmakers argue that this stems from “the historical context of Dominican Republic-Haiti relations,” and they cite video evidence showing “that the National Police are targeting individuals who possess African-like phenotypic (i.e., Black) features and deporting them.”
As such, the lawmakers “request that the International community continue to call for the cessation of forced returns of Haitians to Haiti by all countries in the region, including the Dominican Republic, as the unremitting gang violence and systematic human rights violations in Haiti do not currently allow for the safe return of Haitians to Haiti.”
The letter can be read here.
