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Following an emergency meeting with the Dominican government, in collaboration with the National Institute of Transit and Land Transport (Intrant), the National Federation of Christian Workers of Social Transport (Fenattransc) announced the revocation of its original decision to prohibit the transport of Haitian citizens starting next Monday. However, control measures will be implemented at interurban stops for foreigners without documents, according to a report from Listin Diario. Mario Díaz, the union leader who previously announced this prohibition measure, stated:
“We have requested that the Directorate General of Immigration, in coordination with Intrant, appoint permanent staff at each of the most important border stops. The aim is to verify the immigration status of users of this service who are not of Dominican nationality (particularly Haitians) before boarding passenger transport buses operating in all border provinces of Haiti.”
While the previous decision was criticized as discriminatory against those without papers or not, the new measure by FENATTRANSC now specifically targets individuals in an illegal situation. Mario Díaz explained:
“We are confident that this will prevent transporters from being fined in accordance with the provisions of immigration law when caught transporting illegal foreigners who are in various ways within the Dominican territory and using public passenger transport services, whether urban or interurban routes.”
He also emphasized that the postponement of the initial ban on transporting Haitians aims to avoid an escalation of the situation.
“In this context, and given the reaction that the announcement of the ban on transporting Haitian citizens, whether in an irregular situation or not, caused both in our country and in our neighbor, we understand that this measure could have generated disturbances. This, combined with the border problem resulting from the illegal construction of the water canal, could have created a potentially uncontrollable situation for Dominicans,” he concluded.
It is worth noting that Mario Díaz had previously announced the decision of the National Federation of Christian Workers of Social Transport (Fenattransc) to prohibit its affiliated drivers from transporting any Haitian citizens, whether in an irregular situation or not, as previously announced in a video by the union.
