SANTO DOMINGO.- Interdiction units of the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) yesterday apprehended 1,243 Haitian nationals lacking legal documentation, and another 1,082 were repatriated to their country of origin, as a result of the increase in interdiction operations taking place in the country.
The arrests took place in Greater Santo Domingo (129 illegal immigrants), Santiago de los Caballeros (64); La Vega (54), Mao/Santiago Rodríguez (70), East Zone (85), Azua (6), Barahona (11), Puerto Plata (2) and Montecristi (17).
Likewise, Dominican Army personnel detained 567 undocumented immigrants, members of the Specialized Corps for Land Border Security detained 167, and the National Police detained another 71 undocumented immigrants. These efforts were coordinated with the Dominican Republic’s DMG (Defense Forces), which also included the Ministry of Defense, the Navy, the Air Force, the Ciutran (National Commission for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities), the Digesett (Digest of Persons with Disabilities), and other state entities.
Those repatriated through the binational border gates were: 602 through Elías Piña; 275 through Dajabón; 110 through Pedernales; and 95 through Jimaní. They were transferred from the detention centers for irregular foreigners that the DGM manages in different parts of the country, where their identification data was taken, they were legally vetted, and subsequently handed over to their country’s immigration authorities.
The DGM reported that interdiction efforts are being carried out with a focus on respecting the dignity of detainees, adhering to fundamental values and complying with all the guarantees of national and international law. It also indicated that it will continue to implement and strengthen operations to locate, detain, and deport illegal immigrants, ensuring that all those transiting through the country are properly documented, as established by Law 285-04 and its implementing regulations.
Communications Directorate