By Daniel Nardini
U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, James Brewster, stated that while people should follow the laws in the Dominican Republic, the Dominican government should also try and build a consensus for inclusion of all peoples within its territory. What exactly does this mean? First, let me give some context of what is occurring in the Dominican Republic. Since the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court ruled that all non-citizens and all those born in the Dominican Republic of non-citizens are not entitled to any services or even Dominican citizenship under the country’s constitution, the Dominican government has “purged” all those born in the country of non-citizen parents from the voter rolls and from any government social services.
This purge of any services and voter rights for those born and raised in the Dominican Republic means they have no citizenship and therefore no protection under Dominican law. Worse, the Dominican government has made this purge retroactive to 1929. So, if you were born and raised to parents who were not citizens of the Dominican Republic at the time, you cannot be a Dominican citizen and therefore you are entitled to no rights. Even if you were born in 1929, and had lived your entire life in the Dominican Republic, if your parents were not Dominican citizens you are not a citizen. To put it mildly, this is one sick and demented act on the part of the Dominican government.
While a LOT of people will be affected by this, the group that will be the most affected will be those Dominicans born of Haitian descent who have lived in the Dominican Republic for close to a century. The law stripping so many of those of Haitian descent born and raised in the Dominican Republic (and there are an estimated 240,000 of them) is not only racist and discriminatory, but a step back in the whole human rights struggle for all Dominicans. In this context, ambassador Brewster is it seems treading a fine line between the laws of the state versus the rights of the individual. Yet it is also part of the immigration reform debate going on in the United States as well. There are those who want to strip all those who were born and raised in the United States of their citizenship because they were not born to parents who were U.S. citizens, and those reformists who want to make those who are undocumented permanent residents.
The Dominican Republic has already taken an extreme step in one direction—taking away the rights of those born and raised in the Dominican Republic of their citizenship and hence their birthright because their parents were not citizens in the first place. We are talking about close to three generations who are losing their birthright! This is one sick puppy of a catastrophe, and one that I hope we will never see done in the United States. Even the United Nations has called this wrong, and it is right to do this. All those Dominican critics who have called this wrong and unjust are equally correct in doing so. Let us hope for all those Dominicans of Haitian descent born and raised in the Dominican Republic that this will be changed.
Dominican Republic A Reflection On U.S. Immigration Debate
By Daniel Nardini
U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, James Brewster, stated that while people should follow the laws in the Dominican Republic, the Dominican government should also try and build a consensus for inclusion of all peoples within its territory. What exactly does this mean? First, let me give some context of what is occurring in the Dominican Republic. Since the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court ruled that all non-citizens and all those born in the Dominican Republic of non-citizens are not entitled to any services or even Dominican citizenship under the country’s constitution, the Dominican government has “purged” all those born in the country of non-citizen parents from the voter rolls and from any government social services.
This purge of any services and voter rights for those born and raised in the Dominican Republic means they have no citizenship and therefore no protection under Dominican law. Worse, the Dominican government has made this purge retroactive to 1929. So, if you were born and raised to parents who were not citizens of the Dominican Republic at the time, you cannot be a Dominican citizen and therefore you are entitled to no rights. Even if you were born in 1929, and had lived your entire life in the Dominican Republic, if your parents were not Dominican citizens you are not a citizen. To put it mildly, this is one sick and demented act on the part of the Dominican government.
While a LOT of people will be affected by this, the group that will be the most affected will be those Dominicans born of Haitian descent who have lived in the Dominican Republic for close to a century. The law stripping so many of those of Haitian descent born and raised in the Dominican Republic (and there are an estimated 240,000 of them) is not only racist and discriminatory, but a step back in the whole human rights struggle for all Dominicans. In this context, ambassador Brewster is it seems treading a fine line between the laws of the state versus the rights of the individual. Yet it is also part of the immigration reform debate going on in the United States as well. There are those who want to strip all those who were born and raised in the United States of their citizenship because they were not born to parents who were U.S. citizens, and those reformists who want to make those who are undocumented permanent residents.
The Dominican Republic has already taken an extreme step in one direction—taking away the rights of those born and raised in the Dominican Republic of their citizenship and hence their birthright because their parents were not citizens in the first place. We are talking about close to three generations who are losing their birthright! This is one sick puppy of a catastrophe, and one that I hope we will never see done in the United States. Even the United Nations has called this wrong, and it is right to do this. All those Dominican critics who have called this wrong and unjust are equally correct in doing so. Let us hope for all those Dominicans of Haitian descent born and raised in the Dominican Republic that this will be changed.