Jose Tomas Perez: Dominican Republic fixing system
Fixing the system
The July 15 Point of View “Outcasts in their native land” on the Dominican Republic’s immigration policies contained inaccuracies.
Our government is carefully working to fix a broken system that for decades left large groups of its population, both citizens and migrants, undocumented and vulnerable.
The Point of View falsely claimed that there are mass deportations. Since President Danilo Medina decreed a moratorium in December 2013, no deportations have occurred. And no one born in the Dominican Republic will be deported, and no one who holds or is entitled to legal Dominican nationality will be deprived of it.
Individuals who voluntarily leave the Dominican Republic are entitled to return and apply for residential status.
The government is allowing people who are in the Dominican Republic illegally to voluntarily leave and making facilities available to them. Our policy allows anyone with proper documentation to return and apply for regularization. The government will not implement sanctions that would hinder entry and will consider each case on an individual basis.
What we’ve accomplished so far represents a giant step forward for human rights in the region: In 2015, hundreds of thousands of people will have documentation and rights in our country that they did not have two years ago.
Jose Tomas Perez
Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United States
Washington, D.C.
This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Jose Tomas Perez: Dominican Republic fixing system."