September 26, a Day of Disaster for Haitian-Dominicans

On September 26, the Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic (DR) issued what is nothing less than an absolute legal disaster for persons of Haitian descent living within its jurisdiction.  The Court handed down a ruling stripping citizenship from descendants of Haitians who entered into Haiti illegally from 1929 onwards.  Haitians and Dominicans share a common history of colonialism, with the French settling Haiti and the Spanish settling the DR (originally the entire island of Hispaniola, including Haiti and the DR was under Spanish domination, until the western third of the island was ceded to France as part of a treaty).  During the twentieth century, the DR came to dominate Hispaniola economically and politically as Haiti descended into political and social turmoil.  It was during the early twentieth century that hundreds of thousands of Haitians entered the DR (either voluntarily or forcibly) to work in the vast Dominican sugar-cane plantations where they became effectively indentured servants.  In fact, on many occasions, Dominican cane-cutting bosses abducted or tricked Haitians into crossing the border, only to later forcibly remove them at the end of the cane-cutting season.  Other Haitians were trapped in the plantations, where they and their children became stateless refugees living under deplorable conditions.  Today, the children of undocumented Haitian immigrants in the DR are not issued birth certificates, barring them from legally marrying, attending school, working, or obtaining voter registration and driver's licenses.  The DR's 2010 constitution denied citizenship to descendants of Haitians born to undocumented parents.  However, the Supreme Court retroactively applied this principle to persons born in the DR since 1929.  Underneath the ruling is the continuing fear among the Dominican political establishment that the Latin American country will be engulfed by its Kreyol-speaking neighbor.  And quite honestly, there is a considerable amount of old-fashioned racism against the predominantly African Haitians among Dominicans today.  What does such a ruling mean to the hundreds of thousands of persons of Haitian descent living in the DR, many of whom are second and third generation citizens?  First it means that such persons can have their legal documentation confiscated and can be deported at any moment.  Secondly, due to the impossibility of deporting so many of its citizens, the Dominican government will only be able to selectively enforce this ruling, giving opportunity for extortion, bribery and all kinds of corruption.  Please pray that the Dominican government would change course and protect the descendants of Haitians who cannot be held accountable for the decisions of their parents to immigrate illegally or otherwise (the Supreme Court's decision cannot be repealed).  Pray also that God will break down the barrier of hate between Dominicans and their Haitian neighbors.