As Dominican Republic ramps up Haitian deportations, smugglers dump over 100 migrants in Puerto Rico

Syra Ortiz Blanes and Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Oct 3, 2024

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Smugglers have abandoned over a hundred Haitians fleeing the island of Hispaniola that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic in a remote nature reserve off the western coast of Puerto Rico in recent weeks.

The incidents come amid a worsening humanitarian and gang crisis in Haiti and a ramp-up of deportations by Dominican authorities. The recent boats originated from the Dominican Republic, where President Luis Abinader announced Wednesday he will start expelling up to 10,000 Haitians a week.

Abinader’s comments came after he told the United Nations General Assembly last week he will take “drastic measures” to protect his already tightened borders with Haiti. Air travel between the two nations has been closed for several months now. The Dominican government renewed the flight ban this week. The announcement of the mass deportation also coincides with the anniversary of the 1937 Parsley Massacre, which took place when Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo orchestrated a mass killing of thousands of Haitians near the border using the army.

The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, which tracks deportations and displacements, said this week that more than 700,000 Haitians have been displaced by the escalating violence in Haiti, which has also spread outside the capital of Port-au-Prince, and made worse the hunger crisis. Over half of those who are displaced are children, the U.N. said.

The Dominican Republic’s announcement has raised concerns that its massive deportation campaign could push more desperate Haitians to take to the sea through a treacherous body of water, the Mona Passage, in an attempt to reach the United States. The passage separates the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico. Amnesty International, the State Department and watchdog groups have criticized the Dominican Republic for its treatment of Haitians.

Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, who travels to Puerto Rico and assists Haitians who have landed there, told the Miami Herald that Abinader’s declarations were “alarming.”

“This mass deportation not only violates human rights but further exacerbates the challenges of migration and asylum-seeking across the region. With the increasing number of Haitians arriving by boats, we see a clear sign of desperation as individuals flee insecurity and a humanitarian crisis in search of safety,” she said.

Jeffrey Quiñones, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Puerto Rico, called the increase in Haitian migrants “unexpected.” He said that until recently, the agency had mostly been interdicting Dominicans trying to reach the U.S. territory by sea this year.

On Sept. 16, Puerto Rico park rangers spotted a large group of Haitians on Monito, a tiny, barren crag with cliffside shorelines that cannot be accessed by sea. A day later, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued the 31 stranded migrants, mostly men. Then, on Sept. 29, the Coast Guard again rescued 14 people, including four children, who had been left on Monito.

On Thursday, federal authorities retrieved 64 Haitians from Isla de Mona, a bigger uninhabited island known for its hostile environment and lack of infrastructure.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency in charge of initially processing the migrants, said in a statement that they would be processed for removal proceedings. The group included 30 adult men, 28 adult women, and three accompanied minors.

All three boats came from the Dominican Republic, where many Haitians have lived for years, and to where some fled in an attempt to reach the U.S. via Puerto Rico. Authorities believe the voyages may have left from Isla Saona, a small island off Santo Domingo’s southeastern tip, and are still investigating whether the incidents are related.

Illegal boat voyages across the Mona Passage are often conducted by smuggling rings on overloaded rickety boats with few life jackets aboard. Capsizes occur frequently. In May 2022, 11 Haitian women died near Puerto Rico’s western coast after their boat tipped over. Relatives of passengers on the boat said some were people never found. Months later, five Haitians drowned on the shores of Isla de Mona.

The U.N., as part of its missing migrants tracking, reported that over 419 people have gone missing or died trying to cross the Mona Passage from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic. The majority have drowned.

The U.N. agency also lists the Dominican Republic as the largest deporter of Haitians. The country has already expelled at least 67,000 people back to Haiti who it claims are Haitians. Last year, the number was more than 174, 000.

Reggie Johnson, acting chief patrol agent for the Ramey sector of Puerto Rico, warned migrants to steer clear of the dangerous sea voyages and the smugglers who profit off them.

“There are safe, orderly and lawful paths to immigrate to the United States. There is no need to risk their lives traversing the Mona Passage in the hands of ruthless smugglers, only to arrive at our coast and face the legal consequences of unlawful entry,” he said in a statement.

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