Thursday, Lieutenant General Máximo William Muñoz Delgado, Director of the Directorate General of Migration (DGM) revealed that his agency had expelled 8,383 foreigners in their respective country since the beginning of the year. He pointed out that foreigners in irregular migratory situations on the Dominican territory were arrested during 285 control operations in different regions of the country. Most of the citizens were from Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba, and to deport them the authorities coordinated with the embassies of their countries. There are also undocumented immigrants from Albania, Armenia, France, India, Iran, Panama, Puerto Rico and Peru. A report by the DGM indicates that between August and December 2016, 13,541 Haitians were repatriated by land via the Dominican-Haitian border, and 123 foreigners from Venezuela, Cuba from Albania, Armenia, France, India, Iran, Panama, Puerto Rico and Peru have been by Las Americas International Airport (AILA) in coordination with the embassies of these countries. What since August 2016 up to date represents a total of 22,047 foreign expulsions. It should be recalled that between June 2015 and July 2016, according to the information made available by the Dominican DGM in combination with those of human rights organizations monitoring the process at the border, more than 160,000 Haitians would have returned to Haiti expelled or voluntarily. Bringing the total with the 2017 figures to more than 180,000 the number of Haitians returning to the country. It should be noted that this figure is probably higher, since voluntary returns are only recorded at official border crossings and do not include Haitians who return to the country through the many informal crossings between the two countries... In addition, nearly 240,000 Haitians enrolled in the National Regularization Plan of Foreigners, whose deadline falls in July 2017 risk expulsion if they can not complete their file and do not have a compulsory passport, a document that Haiti does not cease promising them but never delivers them... For its part, the DGM reiterates that it will remain firm in its commitment to control the entry and exit of foreigners on Dominican territory "in order to harmonize the migration movement with the needs of national development."
(c) Haiti Libre