The Dominican Republic says it plans to expel as many as 10,000 Haitian migrants per week, despite a longstanding call from the United Nations to end forced returns to Haiti amid a surge in gang violence there.Homero Figueroa, a Dominican presidential spokesman, said on Wednesday that the “operation aims to reduce the excessive migrant populations detected in Dominican communities”.
Figueroa added that the expulsions to Haiti, which shares a border with the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, would begin “immediately”.
The announcement comes just days after the UN reported that at least 3,661 people had been killed in Haiti in the first half of 2024 amid the “senseless” gang violence that has engulfed the country.
Haitian leaders warned last week that they are “nowhere near winning” the battle against the armed groups, which for months have been carrying out attacks and kidnappings across the capital of Port-au-Prince and in other parts of the country.
The violence has internally displaced more than 700,000 Haitians, according to UN figures, and nearly half of the population — more than 5.4 million people — also faces acute hunger.
Haiti has reeled from years of violence as armed groups — often with ties to the country’s political and business leaders — have vied for control over territory.
But the situation worsened dramatically at the end of February, when the gangs launched attacks on prisons and other state institutions in Port-au-Prince.
The surge in violence prompted the resignation of Haiti’s unelected prime minister, the creation of the transitional presidential council and the deployment of the UN-backed multinational police de …