Dominican Republic starts mass deportations of Haitians and expels nearly 11,000 in a week
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - The Dominican Republic said Tuesday it has deported or repatriated nearly 11,000 Haitians in the past week alone, fulfilling a pledge that it will do so weekly as neighboring Haiti scrambles to handle the influx, besieged by poverty and gang violence.
The Dominican government announced last week that it would deport up to 10,000 Haitians a week, citing an "excess" of immigrants as relations between the two countries that share the island of Hispaniola continue to sour.
The announcement prompted Haitian officials to request an emergency meeting at the Organization of American States, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
"The forced and mass deportation of our Haitian compatriots from the Dominican Republic is a violation of the fundamental principles of human dignity," Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday morning.