Undocumented Haitians Told to Leave Dominican Republic Voluntarily

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The director of the General Directorate of Immigration, Luis Rafael Lee Ballester,  has called on undocumented Haitians remaining in here to leave the country voluntarily because “immigration interdictions will increase.”

Ballester said the institution has new agents, who have undergone practical and theoretical training and are currently on the ground learning the doctrines of immigration operations.

“Therefore, we recommend that irregular immigrants here in the Dominican Republic leave voluntarily, because with this deployed personnel, we are going to increase interdictions,” he said.

The head of the General Directorate of Immigration stated that a facial recognition system is being tested for access control using biometrics and modern technologies to regulate and identify those accessing binational markets.

“That equipment has been installed and is being tested. In a few days, we will be working on a resolution that the General Directorate of Immigration will issue , establishing the biometric procedures and regulations that foreigners participating in binational markets must comply with. This process begins with providing your country of origin to register the correct name of the person wishing to participate or enter our territory to conduct commercial activities in binational markets,” Ballester said.

A Customs and Border Protection representative from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic accompanied the Director of Immigration to review the DGM’s technological process and discuss ways they can cooperate.