Michele Wucker, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
An Exclusive Interview with President Leonel Fernández

Fernández: We Deported Haitians After Breaking Up Network of Beggars

HAITI Insight contributor Michele Wucker interviewed President Leonel Fernández in Santo Domingo on March 13. Here are excerpts that relate to the recent Dominican repatriations of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. Wucker is the author of a forthcoming book on the Dominican Republic that will be published by FSG/Hill & Wang.

Wucker: Why were the repatriations carried out now, at such a surprising time, especially after the steps taken last year toward improving relations between both countries?

Fernández: Relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic had been taking the higher road. There was even a meeting between President Preval and me in Miami in December, and things were going well.

Now, what happened? Two events generated a temporary situation of tension. First was a misunderstanding of the State Sugar Council's system of contracting Haitian agricultural workers for the current harvest, which caused criticism of the government by a certain sector...That's not a big deal, because here, after all, Haitian workers have always been contracted for cane cutting.

The other was the discovery of a Dominico-Haitian mafia network operating between Navarrete and Santiago de los Caballeros, which led our law enforcement officials to crack down on street people and beggars. We dismantled the network, which operated for profit, but we also were able to discover an unusual incidence of illegal Haitian immigrants. So we proceeded to the repatriations, which reached close to 20,000 in six weeks.

Now, on this occasion, in contrast to previous occasions, the Haitian authorities were notified of the repatriations, of the identity of everyone of those repatriated and the circumstances under which they were undocumented. They were transported in buses, with their human rights being protected. There were no beatings. Perhaps there were one or another isolated cases which were handled imprudently, but in the general sense, it can't be said that there were violations of human rights.

Every country resists the idea that its own people are being returned to it, and because of that, there was a reaction on the part of the Haitian parliament against it. But nobody can deny the Dominican government's right to return undocumented workers to their country. Every day Dominicans come back, expelled from Puerto Rico, and we don't say anything. Every day, when the U.S. repatriates Mexicans from the border, nobody protests, because they know the U.S. has the right. So what's the difference? That the US is doing it every day? We often go a long time without repatriating anybody, so what happens is that the problem becomes big and we have to do it massively.

I would be in favor of a policy of guarding the border, of controlling the border and thus preventing the formation of large nuclei (of illegal immigrants).

I would agree more with a migration policy of monitoring daily flows across the border, that is, daily returns. They don't have to take place in mass. The mass (deportation) happened because of the crisis level of the problem that presented itself as the consequence of the hyper-presence of Haitians in the important cities of the country.

President Préval is a man who has goodwill, and I believe I have showed the same. I ordered a suspension of the massive repatriations so that immigration policy could be re-oriented. I've asked for a Dominican team to submit an immigration bill for the reinforcement of the national border commission, and to establish a labor policy on systems for contracting foreign workers.

I always thought the idea of a census could be a way to determine precisely the presence of foreigners in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps this is not the moment to do it, because foreigners, especially Haitians, think that a census would be a way to repatriate them. We couldn't obtain reliable statistics. Eventually, with the help of the United Nations, we hope to begin a project of carrying out a census of the foreign population in the Dominican Republic.

There are good intentions between President Preval and me. Now, on both sides, there are sectors that are pugnacious, confrontational, which exert pressure there (in Haiti) and also those which exert pressure on the Dominican side. As a result, it is important to manage the situation on both sides of the island. But at the governmental level, we are positively disposed toward being able to work together toward a solution to all the problems.

Wucker: Some observers have interpreted the repatriation crisis as a reaction against the opening you've begun with Haiti. How do you respond to that?

Fernández: There is a sector that doesn't want there to be an opening. It's a historical and cultural problem. Now our hope is that the relationship between the Dominican Republic and Haiti can be harmonious and fruitful. The Dominican Republic has called on the international community to go to the aid of Haiti to confront the problem of poverty, for humanitarian reasons...but also because it is in the Dominican national interest. If Haiti makes economic progress, that will also diminish the migratory pressure on the Dominican Republic.