SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AFP) — The Dominican Republic says it has deported 30,000 Haitians on average every month since last October when the Government toughened its stance against migrants from its poor, violence-torn neighbour.

Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader has championed a MAGA-style hard line on migration since coming to power in 2020, with mass expulsions of Haitians and the construction of a wall that so far stretches across more than half the border the countries share on the island of Hispaniola.

Raids and expulsions have skyrocketed even as the Government has halted the issuing of visas and reinforced the military presence at the frontier.

On August 5, the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) said it had expelled 31,462 people to Haiti in July, and has maintained “an average of over 30,000 monthly deportations”
— some 300,000 in total
— from October to July.

In April, the Caribbean country launched a series of raids on public health facilities, arresting pregnant women, new mothers, and children in a crackdown denounced by the United Nations.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is riddled with poverty and gang violence against a backdrop of political instability.

More than a million people have been displaced as the violence has soared in recent months.

Many migrants from Haiti, a Creole- and French-speaking nation of some 11 million people of mainly African descent, are fleeing violent gangs that control much of Port-au-Prince, the capital.

But many in the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic have turned on their neighbours who cross the border, accusing them of taking their jobs and resources.

Observers say the migration crackdown is impacting Dominican tourism, agriculture, and construction, with cheaper Haitian labour dwindling.