On a bridge between the Caribbean’s poorest country and its largest economy, would-be migrants told The Globe about dawn raids, extortions, mass deportations and other hardships they’ve endured
A caged bus arrives at the border crossing in Dajabon, Dominican Republic, with people being deported to neighbouring Haiti. Buses like this arrive daily at the border, filled with people of all ages.The 28-year-old construction worker, along with his wife and toddler daughter, had been swept up in a raid by immigration authorities on his neighbourhood in Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican Republic’s second-largest city. Mr.
“There is no way to live in Haiti. If I could find a job here, I wouldn’t have to go to the DR,” he said. “I have to try to go back. We don’t know where we’re going to sleep.”growing exodus from the country, with migrants travelling by boat or on foot, sometimes for thousands of kilometres, triggering a
But amid persistent unemployment, daily gang shootouts and kidnappings, and chronic shortages of food, fuel and medicine, many Haitians don’t see much choice but to keep trying to reach the Dominican Republic. For four years, she lived in the DR, working on the cleaning staff for a small-town mayor’s office. She was deported last month, along with her husband and four children, she said.
“They know clearly that you’re not an illegal immigrant, but they pretend they’re going to deport you. Sometimes they keep people several days until they pay,” the 33-year-old said. Many Haitian migrants in the DR end up working in construction and heavy labour jobs, including building the border wall.
Even the physical dividing line between the two countries here is testament to their violent history: The Massacre River was named for the 17th-century killing of French buccaneers by Spanish settlers during the struggle by the two colonial powers for control of the island. Its moniker gained renewed relevance during the 1937 mass killings of Haitians in the Dominican borderlands by the forces of dictator Rafael Trujillo.
Gesnal Duval carries his daughter from the bus. Mr. Duval said he was arrested with his wife and three children at 10 p.m. the night before when immigration authorities arrested every Haitian on his block and officers took his phone and money. were credited with containing the gangs, but were also connected to a cholera outbreak, a sex extortion ring and the shooting of civilians.
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