Many Leave Dominican Republic for Haiti to Avoid Deportation

Thousands of people from Haiti or merely of Haitian descent aren’t waiting to see if they'll be forcibly removed from the Dominican Republic now that the deadline has passed to apply for legal residency
Many Leave Dominican Republic for Haiti to Avoid Deportation
In this June 29, 2015 photo, a girl born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents peers through the window of a government car that will transport her and her family to the border with Haiti, in Santo Domingo, as her family returns voluntarily to their native Haiti after living in the DR several years. AP Photo/Ezequiel Abiu Lopez
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OUANAMINTHE, Haiti—Thousands of people from Haiti or merely of Haitian descent aren’t waiting to see if they'll be forcibly removed from the Dominican Republic now that the deadline has passed to apply for legal residency.

The end of a yearlong application period has sparked an exodus to Haiti of people who failed to qualify. Some plan to wait out what they fear could be a wave of mass deportations, while others will start uncertain new lives on the poorer side of Hispaniola.

The two countries that share the Caribbean island have a fraught history, with generations of Haitians crossing into the Dominican Republic to take low-wage jobs in fields like agriculture and construction. They’ve also encountered discrimination and periodic crackdowns.

Among those who have left recently are Haitian farmworker Eragene Moncher, despite the fact he actually qualified for the “regularization” program for foreign-born people.