His Haitian passport was in order, with up-to-date visas, so when police in the Dominican Republic detained him for hours, Josue Azor felt certain it was because of the black color of his skin.
The arrest of the young photographer came amid a wave of expulsions of Haitian migrants by the Dominican government, with black people being specifically targeted, according to advocacy groups in Haiti — an allegation the government reject.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, but their economies and living conditions differ dramatically.
Photo: AFP
The much richer Dominican Republic, with its thriving tourism industry, attracts Haitians hoping for a better life. Further fueling the migrant flow are the growing insecurity and political chaos that make life in Haiti increasingly challenging.
However, Azor was traveling for professional reasons — working with Dominican friends on a stop-motion film. He had just arrived in Las Terrenas, a scenic tourist destination on the northeastern Dominican coast, when he was stopped by police.
“From the edge of town to the police station, the police were picking up young men at random, targeting them for the color of their skin,” the 36-year-old said. “It was like a hunt for Haitians.”
Photo: AFP
Azor said the officers “were humiliating people” and refused to verify his identity papers or to let him make a telephone call, placing him in a jail cell with a dozen other Haitians.
He was there for several hours, and only after the arrival of Dominican migrant rights advocates called by a friend of his was he allowed to prove his regular status.
With criminal gangs increasingly taking control of neighborhoods in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, the flow of migrants to the Dominican Republic has swollen, prompting Santo Domingo to harden its policy, even building a wall along about half the common border.
From September to last month alone, Dominican authorities expelled more than 56,300 Haitians, far more than the 15,530 in the same period last year, the Support Group for Returnees and Refugees said.
The Haitian group has denounced the “hatred” and “racial discrimination” that it says underlie the trend.
Advocacy groups for migrants in the two countries say some expulsions have been conducted illegally — at unofficial border crossings, often at night, and sometimes involving unaccompanied minors.
It is not only non-governmental organizations leveling criticism.
The UN last month called on countries to stop forcibly repatriating Haitians, given the grave humanitarian crisis gripping the country.
The US Department of State later that month issued a warning to Americans considering trips to the Dominican Republic, saying some travelers had complained of being delayed or detained because of the color of their skin.
“There is evidence of racial prejudice and discrimination against persons of dark complexion, Haitians, or those perceived to be Haitian,” the department said in a report.
Dominican authorities lashed out at that language, calling the report “ambiguous” and saying it provided no proof of any systematic scheme to discriminate against migrants.
Early this month, Dominican President Luis Abinader said that “the sacrifice made by the Dominican Republic with the excess of irregular immigrants exceeds its possibilities of assimilation.”
However, there are also reports of black Dominicans facing racism.
“On TikTok, you can see black-skinned Dominicans describing humiliating situations they have been subjected to in their own country,” said Edwin Paraison, executive director of the Zile Foundation, a binational friendship group.
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