Chairman Monestime condemns deportations of Dominicans of Haitian descent by the Dominican Republic

MIAMI-DADE – Chairman Jean Monestime stands in solidarity with the United Nations Human Rights Commission and calls upon the Dominican government to cease deporting Dominicans of Haitian descent. This move by the Dominican Republic comes after the Dominican Supreme Court unlawfully rescinded the citizenship rights of some 250,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent, many of whom have bloodlines that have not seen Haitian soil in two generations.

“Though the Dominican government has claimed that this will not be a ‘witch hunt’ and that deportation will be a slow and gradual process, videos of forced removal of Dominicans of Haitian descent from their homes, schools and jobs have surfaced, putting the intent of the government in question,” Chairman Monestime said. “This is not the first time that the Dominican government has made their abhorrence of Haitians crystal clear. First there was the Dominican government-ordered genocide of 20,000 Haitians in 1937. They called this a ‘cleansing.’ And who can forget the extremely racist and offensive book ‘La Isla al Revés’ published by President Joaquin Balaguer in 1983? They called this ‘science.’ One cannot help but to be reminded of the manner in which the Nazi party stripped both citizenship and humanity from the Jews just before committing atrocities and crimes against humanity of epic proportions.”