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the presidential palace of the caribbean island nation of the dominican republic announced on the 2nd that it will "immediately" implement a plan to step up the repatriation of illegal immigrants, with a maximum of 10,000 people per week being able to be repatriated. although the dominican republic did not mention the identities of potential deportees, it said that the decision was made in light of the situation where gang violence is still rampant in neighboring haiti.

presidential spokesman omero figueroa said in a statement that given the "limited" effectiveness of the united nations-mandated multinational security support mission to help haitian police curb gang violence in the country, "faced with this reality, we we are forced to take decisive and responsible actions to ensure the security and stability of our country."

this is the flag square taken in santo domingo, the capital of dominica, on may 21. photo by xinhua news agency reporter li mengxin

the dominican republic also plans to deploy more border inspection personnel and surveillance drones at the border, and build "temporary camps for deported persons" that take into account security and human rights protection.

dominica and haiti are located on the island of hispaniola in the northern caribbean sea to the east and west.

the united nations has called on the dominican republic, the united states and other countries to suspend the repatriation of immigrants to haiti because nearly half of haiti's approximately 11 million people face severe famine. in the past six months, the number of people displaced in haiti due to rampant gang violence has nearly doubled to more than 700,000.

on april 25, in port-au-prince, the capital of haiti, soldiers patrolled near the prime minister's office. xinhua news agency/ap

according to united nations data, dominica repatriated more than 200,000 haitians last year, accounting for the vast majority of the total number of haitians repatriated worldwide. if the new plan is implemented, the number of deportations will rise significantly.

on july 7, 2021, haiti's then-president jovenel moise was assassinated, triggering political and social turmoil. haiti was originally scheduled to hold an election before february 7 this year, but it failed to be held as scheduled. gang violence is rampant in the haitian capital port-au-prince and its surrounding areas, causing a serious security and humanitarian crisis.

in late june this year, the first multinational security support mission authorized by the united nations arrived in port-au-prince to assist the haitian police in restoring local security order. in accordance with united nations resolutions, the security support mission has more than 2,000 personnel sent by more than a dozen countries, mainly from africa, europe and the caribbean, and is led by kenya. (shen min)

(source: xinhua news agency)

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