The country sees a large influx of foreigners who come here in search of a better quality of life, which they cannot achieve in their countries of origin due to numerous social and economic difficulties.
Among the foreigners who enter the country most frequently, Haitians stand out, entering illegally across the dividing line at the land border in most cases.
This influx of immigrants brings with it a series of problems that start in the border area, a phenomenon that favors a lucrative business mechanism based on collecting money from undocumented immigrants detained in immigration raids, the only way to gain their freedom.
This irregularity, which is not a new matter although it has been denounced several times, continues to occur, and not only at the Haina Vacation Center, the center where Haitians detained during operations are held.
This is evidenced by a Haitian whose name is omitted for security reasons.
THE SAME PRACTICE
He denounced alleged irregularities by service authorities at a downtown service station and the Haina resort.
According to the applicant, who has lived in the country since 2009, the authorities would ask for between 2,000 and 3,000 pesos to release undocumented Haitians detained during police or Directorate-General for Migration (DGM) raids.
“They arrested me and took me to the department at Avenida Cayetano Germosén,” said the victim.
“There were about eight or nine Haitians; About two of them were released while I was there. The two released for money were illegal; One paid 2,000 and another 3,000 because he had a kept engine,” the man explained.
He further explained that he was transferred from the department to Haina Vacation the next day, where he stayed until Monday.
In that place, he said, there is a network that negotiates the freedom of undocumented aliens who are brought there.
He said the guards at the complex charged between 12,000 and 16,000 pesos for the release of illegals during his detention in Haina.
The agents, the witness said, put pressure on the detainees, all to drive them to despair and ask their relatives for money to eventually hand it over to them.
It is also claimed that “the guards ask the detainees’ relatives to send them food; otherwise, they will not receive it.”
Another of the reported irregularities is the “mixture of regular immigrant status and documented individuals, a situation leading to the possible unjustified deportation of individuals”.
Added to this, according to the Haitian, is the rudeness with which these people are treated at the time of their arrest, as well as the treatment regime to which they are subjected at the facility.
Finally, the applicant, affected by a situation that he assured would occur in the illegal detention centers, declared that he was able to gain his freedom on the third day after his arrest in front of the house, on a day that seemed to suit him to be common and up-to-date”.
