Dominican Republic’s handling of the Haitian migration crisis
- LatamSinFiltro
- May 21
- 7 min read
Since 2024, several protests against Haitian migrants have taken place in the Dominican Republic. The protesters are demanding, among other things, a stricter immigration policy and the expulsion of immigrants who entered the territory illegally. On the other hand, representatives of left-wing parties, as well as NGOs and other civil organizations, are calling on the government to respect the human rights of Haitian immigrants. Upon his arrival as president in 2020, Luis Abinader implemented a rather stringent immigration policy, particularly towards Haitians, and on April 27, 2025, the Dominican president announced the strengthening of border controls with Haiti. To what extent does the situation in Haiti impact the Dominican Republic?
Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic is not a recent phenomenon
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share a 380-km border. On the Haitian side, 16 municipalities border it, while in the Dominican Republic, there are five provinces bordering Haiti.
There have always been flows of people between the two countries, but the Haitian migratory phenomenon is considered to have really begun at the beginning of the 20th century.[1], particularly with the development of the sugar industry in the Dominican Republic, which benefited from a favorable international context with the increase in foreign investment (mainly American) in the country. Over time, the Haitian workforce became increasingly abundant. At the end of the 20th century, Haitian migration, mainly linked to the sugar industry, began to penetrate other sectors of the Dominican economy, coinciding with the rise of tertiary activities in the country.
According to data from the National Statistics Office of DR[2], in 2014, 87% of immigrants in the Dominican Republic came from Haiti. Men accounted for 65% of migrants. Haitian women and men were generally between 20 and 35 years old when they entered the Dominican Republic and were mostly looking for better living conditions and better job opportunities. According to the same data, 51% of Haitian immigrant women were inactive
Recent data on Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic
According to data from the report "Migration in the Dominican Republic: Context, Challenges and Opportunities" published by UNDP Latin America and the Caribbean, in 2022[3], around 86.5% of the foreign population in the DR is from Haiti.
According to UN data and academic publications, Haitians are estimated to represent between 4% and 7% of the Dominican population. A paper published by Dr. Gabriel Bidegain Greising in 2019[4] shows that in 2017 5% of the population was born in Haiti. Another document published by the United Nations in 2022[5] and based on data from the government of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, it is estimated that 7% of the Dominican Republic's population is composed of Haitian migrants and their descendants. It is possible that between 2017 and 2022, due to the rapid deterioration of the political and economic situation in Haiti, Haitian migration may have intensified. This is only a hypothesis.
42.4% of Haitian immigrants are employed in the construction, agriculture, and tourism sectors. More than half of them live in urban areas (66.4%), while the other half (33.6%) live in the border regions with Haiti.
Finally, it should be highlighted that the majority of Haitian migrants are in a vulnerable situation; they generally do not have access to public services or social protection since a large proportion have informal employment. The lack of papers and therefore of rights in the Dominican territory represents the main factor of vulnerability.
Why are thousands of Haitians crossing the border?
As mentioned earlier, this is largely economic emigration.
The Dominican economy represents a real force of attraction for Haitians. According to World Bank data, in 2023, Haiti's GDP represented $19.85 billion, compared to $121.44 billion for the Dominican Republic.
Furthermore, the GDP per capita in the Dominican Republic was $10,717.6 (annual) in 2023, compared to $1,705.8 in Haiti.
The Dominican Republic registered 2.4% of economic growth in 2023, while the Haitian economy contracted by 1.9%. Furthermore, in Haiti, inflation (annual change) stood at 36.8% in 2023 (compared to 3.3% in the DR) and unemployment at 15.1% in 2024 (compared to 5.5% in the DR). The UN estimates that 60% of the Haitian population lives below the poverty line.
However, Haiti's economic situation is not the only reason leading part of the population to cross the border.
Since 2017, the country has been experiencing a serious political crisis that led to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Insecurity and violence have exploded, and the number of criminal gangs has skyrocketed. Haiti has not held a presidential election since 2016. The country lacks a president, and gang violence, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince, prevents new elections from being held. A Presidential Transitional Council has been established until a new president is elected.
In addition, the country had to face the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the cholera pandemic in 2022 and went through an earthquake in August 2021.
In conclusion, the situation in Haiti is critical.
Measures implemented by President Luis Abinader
Since 2024, thousands of people and supporters of right-wing and far-right parties have been demonstrating in the Dominican Republic, demanding greater controls at the border with Haiti.
In response, the government implemented a plan in October 2024 aimed at controlling migratory flows, particularly from Haiti. The Dominican government has set itself the goal of deporting up to 10,000 Haitians each week. In March 2025, the government[6] reported repatriating 26,659 Haitian migrants (theoretically illegal), bringing the total number of people expelled to 151,883 since October 2024. More than 250 expulsion operations have been carried out. Protests continued in 2025, in particular those organized by the nationalist movement Ancient Dominican Order(“Antigua Orden Dominicana” in Spanish) which still requires tougher immigration policies.
In April 2025, President Abinader went even further by announcing 15 measures to “fight illegal immigration” in a televised message to the nation.[7]. Among other things, the president announced the strengthening of border control with the deployment of 860 soldiers in addition to the 9,500 already deployed at the borders and the acceleration of the construction of the border wall with Haiti. 54 kilometers of wall have already been built, to which another 13 kilometers will be added. President Abinader also wants to submit to the National Congress a bill of reform in order to strengthen the sanctions against civil servants and military personnel who help migrants to enter Dominican territory illegally. In addition, control offices will be installed in all provinces of the country with the recruitment of 750 new immigration agents. Finally, one of his most controversial measures is number 11:
"In order to control the flow of people that are in an irregular situation into public hospitals, (President Abinader) ordered as an eleventh measure to establish a protocol, which must be ready for implementation on Monday, April 21 (2025), obliging the staff of the National Health Service (SNS) hospitals to request the following documents: an identity document, a work certificate and proof of address; In addition, fees will be applied for all prescribed care.
In the event of non-compliance with any of these conditions, he specified, the patient will be treated and, once recovered, repatriated immediately."
In addition, immigration agents will be present in the country's 33 main hospitals that account for 75% of undocumented foreign patients.
The UN has questioned this measure, saying it could deter vulnerable people, including pregnant women, from seeking medical care. Thousands of women have been expelled while pregnant or having recently given birth. The measure has also been harshly criticized by the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council and the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Similarly, left-wing parties and human rights NGOs such as the Support Group for Repatriates and Refugees (GARR) and the Haitian Defense Platform for Alternative Development (PAPDA) denounce abuses by the Dominican government and its failure to comply with expulsion procedures. The organizations denounce the conditions under which vulnerable people, such as pregnant women, children, and the elderly, are expelled. You can find testimonies of Haitian migrants expelled by Dominican authorities in various press articles (New York Times, BBC News Mundo, and UN News) to form your own opinion on the topic.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the question of the Haitian migration is not new in the Dominican public debate. The Dominican government's discourse generally focuses on the need to ensure the security of the population and defend the country's rights in the face of Haitian migrants, who are often compared to criminals, even though they are mostly displaced populations due to the armed conflict in Haiti. The crisis in Haiti is a multidimensional and humanitarian crisis that has led thousands of people to emigrate to the Dominican Republic to seek refuge.
In the Dominican political space, the term "invasion" is sometimes used to refer to the Haitian migration crisis, which, according to the data and figures presented above, seems totally exaggerated to describe the presence of Haitians in the DR.
Some of the challenges facing the government of the Dominican Republic will be, first of all, to guarantee respect for the human rights of undocumented migrants, but also to enable those who work informally to obtain the right to work and documents that allow them to remain legally in Dominican territory.
[1] Schwarz Coulange Méroné, “Elementos sociohistóricos para entender la migración haitiana a República Dominicana”, Papeles de población 24, núm. 97 (septiembre de 2018): 173–93, https://doi.org/10.22185/24487147.2018.97.29.
[2] “Perfil socio-demográfico de las inmigrantes haitianas en República Dominicana”, Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas (ONE), Mayo 2014,
[3] “La migración en la República Dominicana: contexto, retos y oportunidades”, UNDP, consultado el 13 de mayo de 2025, https://www.undp.org/es/latin-america/publicaciones/la-migracion-en-la-republica-dominicana-contexto-retos-y-oportunidades.
[4] Gabriel Bidegain Greising, “Haití: la ‘invasión’ a República Dominicana”, Población y Desarrollo - Argonautas y Caminantes 15 (el 26 de julio de 2019): 112–17, https://doi.org/10.5377/pdac.v15i0.8121.
[5] “Caracterizacion de la poblacion migrante haitiana y sus descendientes, incluyendo las que viven con VIH”, ONUSIDA, 2022, https://dominicanrepublic.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/TdR%20Contratacion%20Consultor%20Estudio%20Caracterizacion%20Poblacion%20Priorizada%20-%20F.pdf
[6] “DGM supera los 151 mil reconducidos a Haití desde que Abinader amplió plan de interdicción - DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE MIGRACIÓN”, el 3 de marzo de 2025, https://migracion.gob.do/dgm-supera-los-151-mil-reconducidos-a-haiti-desde-que-abinader-amplio-plan-de-interdiccion/.
[7] “Presidente Abinader pasa revista a las 15 medidas del Gobierno para combatir la inmigración ilegal y fortalecer la soberanía nacional | Presidencia de la República Dominicana”, consultado el 13 de mayo de 2025, https://presidencia.gob.do/noticias/presidente-abinader-pasa-revista-las-15-medidas-del-gobierno-para-combatir-la-inmigracion.
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Bibliography:
Coulange Méroné, Schwarz. “Elementos sociohistóricos para entender la migración haitiana a República Dominicana.” Papeles de población 24, no. 97 (September 2018): 173–93. https://doi.org/10.22185/24487147.2018.97.29.
Departamento de Comunicaciones. “DGM repatría 14,633 extranjeros ilegales - DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE MIGRACIÓN,” January 15, 2025. https://migracion.gob.do/dgm-repatria-14633-extranjeros-ilegales/.
“DGM supera los 151 mil reconducidos a Haití desde que Abinader amplió plan de interdicción - DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE MIGRACIÓN,” March 3, 2025. https://migracion.gob.do/dgm-supera-los-151-mil-reconducidos-a-haiti-desde-que-abinader-amplio-plan-de-interdiccion/.
Greising, Gabriel Bidegain. “Haití: la ‘invasión’ a República Dominicana.” Población y Desarrollo - Argonautas y Caminantes 15 (July 26, 2019): 112–17. https://doi.org/10.5377/pdac.v15i0.8121.
“Haití: Me deportaron a un país en el que nunca viví | Noticias ONU,” February 3, 2025. https://news.un.org/es/story/2025/02/1536191.
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“Presidente Abinader pasa revista a las 15 medidas del Gobierno para combatir la inmigración ilegal y fortalecer la soberanía nacional | Presidencia de la República Dominicana.” Accessed May 13, 2025. https://presidencia.gob.do/noticias/presidente-abinader-pasa-revista-las-15-medidas-del-gobierno-para-combatir-la-inmigracion.
UNDP. “La migración en la República Dominicana: contexto, retos y oportunidades.” Accessed May 13, 2025. https://www.undp.org/es/latin-america/publicaciones/la-migracion-en-la-republica-dominicana-contexto-retos-y-oportunidades.
World Bank Open Data. “World Bank Open Data.” Accessed May 13, 2025. https://data.worldbank.org.
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