Deportations of Haitians increasing

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters)-- The number of Haitians ousted from the Dominican Republic ran into the thousands this week, a spiral that many Haitians fear will continue, officials said Friday.

"If I look at the rhythm in which they are arriving, it's growing every day and I think the numbers will increase tremendously," Carol Joseph, director of the Haitian Migration Office, told Reuters."The team we have at the border is overwhelmed," he said.

Each day this week 300 to 400 Haitians were dumped by Dominican soldiers at Ouanaminthe, Haiti, near the Dominican border. More Haitians were trucked to other border areas shared by the two nations on the Caribbean island Hispaniola.

The Dominican government says the Haitians were illegal immigrants, but Haitian authorities said that was not clear.

"Among them are people who have spent all their life over there and don't know anyone in Haiti. We have to find them a place to live and some way to make a living," Joseph said.

Historic Dominican antipathy toward the Haitian minority resurged after the Organization of American States issued a report on Oct. 30 saying the Dominican government violated human rights standards by not granting citizenship to children born in the Dominican Republic to illegal Haitian immigrants.

The Dominican government in protest said it would step up deportations of illegal immigrants. President Leonel Fernandez also posted army troops along the border.

"This is a very dangerous campaign and we don't think it is going to stop," said Inoelia Remy, who directs the Association for the Development of Women and the Environment, working with Haitians living in Dominican sugar camps.

Dominican media have focused on the problem of Haitian migration, asserting that the children of Haitians born in the Dominican Republic remain Haitian.

"It's like an inquisition," Remy, a Dominican attorney of Haitian descent, said by telephone. Remy said she feared her children or grandchildren would be deported to Haiti.

"Any one with brown skin is vulnerable," she said.

Rightist Dominican groups have organized a Nov. 20 demonstration against the presence of Haitians, five days before the Latin American and Caribbean Presidential Summit is slated to take place in the capital, Santo Domingo.

Poor Haitians have for years sought work in the Dominican Republic, where the annual per capita income is nearly $2,000. Haiti's average annual per capita income is $260.

But Haiti and the Dominican Republic have a long history of hostility. Relations between the two countries reached their lowest point in 1937, when Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the massacre of 30,000 Haitians in towns along the border. The two countries did not establish normal diplomatic relations until three years ago.