Mass Expulsions and Deportations

Overview

The Dominican government has implemented massive expulsion and deportation operations on at least three occasions in the past ten years—in 1991, 1997 and 1999. Even when massive sweeps were not being carried out, the “ordinary” rate of expulsions and deportations has hovered around 24,000 to 30,000 per year during the last decade, according to sources that include Dominican officials.¹ Estimates by these officials and other observers show that expulsions and deportations continued to be carried out at a rate of some 2,000 per month during 2000,² and that this rate increased significantly at the outset of 2001.³ The policy and practice of mass expulsions have victimized tens of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic.⁴

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For more information, please contact Merrie Archer.