Following the ban on agricultural crops in the Valle Nuevo reserve in Constanza by the Ministry of the Environment, several hundred illegal Haitians in irregular migration situations illegally occupy these areas and are engaged in agriculture despite the ban.

Faced with this situation and complaints from Dominican farmers expelled from the areas concerned by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Directorate General of Migration (DGM), assisted by soldiers of the 6th Constanza Fighter Battalion, the National Police and the Ministry arrested more than 50 Haitians in the community of El Convento among others, although the majority of them managed to escape with the help of employers who exploit a cheap work in violation of the law. Migratory control operations began around 4 am on Wednesday and ended at 7 am on Thursday. Haitians arrested were sent to Santiago and then repatriated to Haiti via the Dajabón border.

In the communities of La Curva and El Convento, according to a census conducted by local associations in the region, out of 699 people living in these communities, 590 are undocumented Haitians who occupy the lands abandoned by the Dominicans after their evictions.

The DGM intends to increase its interventions to enforce the law and protect the environment of the Valle Nuevo Reserve.

S/ iciHaiti