The United Nations Children’s Agency has received at least 1,800 unaccompanied children delivered by Dominican immigration authorities into Haiti since the year began, a spokesperson told CNN on Monday.
Many arrive without identity documents and are “shipped” into the country amid adult deportees, the spokesperson also said—raising the question of how Dominican authorities ascertained that they belonged in Haiti at all.
The Dominican Republic has long sought to reduce the Haitian population within its borders, though the latest wave of deportations has taken place at stunning speed and breadth, prompting critics to accuse the Caribbean nation’s government of racial profiling, chaotic execution, and a disregard for human rights and families as immigration agents hustle people out of the country.
In October alone, 14,801 people were sent to Haiti from the Dominican Republic, according to records by Haitian aid organization Groupe d’Appui des Rapatriés et Réfugiés—an average of 477 people each day.
The United States embassy in the Dominican Republic has warned Black and “darker-skinned Americans” that they risk “increased interaction” with Dominican authorities amid the
immigration crackdown, and as of Saturday, mentioned the existence of “reports of the unequal treatment” of US citizens based on skin color.
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