DOMINICANS BEGIN WORK ON IMPLEMENTING THEIR 2004

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTO DOMINGO 000236

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/JESSICA YUTACOM AND NICOLE GREEN
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USOAS FOR DANIEL CENTO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2019
TAGS: PHUM PREF HA DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICANS BEGIN WORK ON IMPLEMENTING THEIR 2004
IMMIGRATION LAW

REF: A. 08 SDO 1110

B. SDO 0183

Classified By: Charge D'Affaris Roland Bullen for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d
).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Dominican government recently held a
summit on migration issues that resulted in recommendations
for regularizing the large undocumented population in the
country. The day following these recommendations, the
country witnessed a rare coordination between four
departments (Interior and Police, Migration, Foreign
Ministry, and the Electoral Commission) to pull together an
international forum on civil registration, identity and
Migration. The focus of the meeting was initially vague and
appeared likely to continue to be the government,s public
focus on reducing (and eventually eliminating by 2015) the
number of undocumented Dominicans. But as soon as the doors
closed on the public, the focus shifted decidedly to the
"Haitian problem". END SUMMARY.

Background
--------------


2. (U) The still controversial law 285 was enacted in 2004.
Although this legislation contained sweeping migration
reform, including visa classes for migrants and visitors, and
regularization for foreigners living in the DR, this law
would become infamous for its provision denying nationality
to children of illegal migrants, and the retroactive
application thereof (Ref A). Law 285 required the President
to enact the regulations for its implementation. Although
the denial of nationality to children of illegal migrants saw
almost immediate application, the section providing for
regularization of illegal migrants in the country is still
awaiting implementation. On February 9, a national summit
(Ref B),which included a working group on migration,
presented President Fernandez with a plan for regularization.

National Summit
--------------


3. (SBU) Under the proposed plan, persons born to foreign
parents before 1950 would be granted Dominican
naturalization. Those born in the country between 1951 and
1990 would be granted permanent residency, and those born
between 1991 and August 14, 2004 would be granted temporary
residence. Those born after the implementation of law 285
are asked to register in the Foreigners' Book (Libro de
Extranjeria),but would not be granted any status under the
recommendations. Aside from requiring proof of birth through
some record of registration, those seeking regularization
would also need to show that they qualify for immigration
under the standard immigrant guidelines. These guidelines
are included in law 285 and are similar to those required of
U.S. immigrant visa applicants.


4. (C) Following the release of these recommendations, PolOff
spoke with Sonia Pierre, an outspoken advocate for Dominicans
of Haitian descent, about the proposal. Her first and most
obvious concern is the retroactive application of law 285 to
those born before its implementation. While she agrees that
any country can make their own laws and constitution, she
also has concerns over a country's inability or failure to
apply the laws it does have. Under the Dominican
constitution pre-law 285, those born to foreigners in the
country who were not diplomats or in transit were Dominican
nationals. The current proposals not only would create
stateless individuals by revoking the Dominican nationality
of those born to foreign parents who were illegal at the
time, but it would also likely deny them a means of seeking a
nationality through the proposed regulations.


5. (C) Pierre noted that in order for the proposed
naturalizations to take place, these individuals will first
need to show that they have a separate nationality from which
to naturalize. She notes that because these people were born
in the Dominican Republic and have or had Dominican birth
registrations and possibly passports, they are either already
Dominicans and should be recognized as such or they should be
given Dominican nationality immediately without a need for
naturalization. When Pierre raised her concerns about the
naturalization requirements with the forum members, she was
told that it was just an error and would be fixed. She was
also told that the past documentation as Dominican nationals
of those born to illegal foreign parents was an error;

SANTO DOMI 00000236 002 OF 003


meaning that there is no retro-active application of law 285.

International Forum
--------------


6. (SBU) The day following the plan's release from the
summit, the GODR hosted the "International Forum of
Administrators on Civil Registration, Identity and
Migration," which was co-sponsored by the OAS. President
Fernandez attended the opening event, but chose not to speak.
Franklin Almeyda Rancier, the Minister of Interior and
Police, opened the event with a discussion on the numerous
challenges that persons without documents face. He also
noted that approximately 20 percent of the population, or
400,000 Dominicans, lack documents and that 80 percent of
Haitians lack documentation as well. (Note: Almeyda did
specify if these Haitians were in the DR or in Haiti,
although the context implied that he was referring to all
Haitians. The representative from Haiti vehemently objected,
noting that Haiti's 2004 drive to register its citizens for
the election resulted in nearly a complete registry during
that time. It is more likely that this number relates to
Haitians in the Dominican Republic).


7. (U) Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman, the President of the
Central Elections Board (JCE),then spoke on documentation
advances within the Dominican Republic. He stated that all
people have a right to documentation and explained the DR's
recent attempts to set up a system of registration
immediately following births in hospitals. He then gave a
history of the problems the country has faced with
documentation and nationality, beginning with a 2004
International Court of Human Rights condemnation for
registration failures and ending with the creation of the
Foreigners' Book in 2007. Claiming that the Dominican
people's strength comes from knowing who they are, "Yo se
quien soy," he held the DR up as an example to other
countries.


8. (U) Jose Octavio Bordon, the head of the OAS delegation
highlighted the problems that undocumented people, and
especially children, have. He said that all children need to
have documents for their basic rights such as justice,
education, and protection from trafficking in persons.


9. (U) Daniel Cento, the Department's Special Organization
Advisor to the OAS, spoke about several U.S. funded OAS
projects on documentation and migration in the Western
Hemisphere. He also spoke specifically to concerns about
statelessness in the region and directly to Haitian migrants
in the DR. Cento urged the governments of the DR and Haiti
to work together to address this important issue, and
commended the DR for hosting this forum due to the large
number of its own citizens without documentation. He
concluded by discussing U.S. procedures and policies on
documentation and nationality.


10. (U) As the participants traveled towards Casa de Campo
for the remainder of the conference, the position that the
Dominican Republic would be taking during this event was
still unclear. The first speaker, Roberto Rosario Marquez,
the President of the Administrative Chamber of the JCE, spoke
about the government's advances in registration and
digitization of the information already registered. He then
spoke about the registration of foreigners. He explained
that the government has asked the migration department to
begin collecting biometric data on those entering or leaving
the country and assigning them a number. He hopes that this
effort will not only assist migrants with identity documents,
but also help to separate Migration from the Civil Registry
of the JCE, which does not control documentation of
foreigners. He claimed that some undocumented foreigners
attempt to use the government's system of late registrations
as a way to document their foreign children as Dominicans
rather than registering them in their own countries. He also
placed the number of undocumented Dominicans at 364,000.


11. (U) Almeyda then spoke on migration and the devolution of
Haiti from one of the richest colonies to an exceptionally
poor nation, before continuing to discuss how the government
determines nationality. He explained that students are in
transit, workers in agriculture are in transit, and finally,
that those who are undocumented are also in transit and have
no right to nationality. He continued by claiming (falsely
in our view) that most Haitians neither request nor want
Dominican Nationality, and that there are no stateless people

SANTO DOMI 00000236 003 OF 003


in the Dominican Republic. Rather, children born to
foreigners take the nationality of their parents. Jose Angel
Aquino Rodriguez, a JCE judge, clarified that Haitians come
across the border to give birth and immediately return to
Haiti. For that reason, they can use the Pink or Foreigners'
Registration to receive a birth certificate from Haiti.


12. (U) Pelegrin Castillo Seman, a congressman with the
Progressive National Force party (a coalition partner of
President Fernandez),explained that the Dominican Republic
is the most open nation in the world to the Haitians and that
the country should not get more involved in the "Haitian
problem" than it is already. He stated that law 285 only
clarified the constitution on immigration and that the
Supreme Court then ratified that position, but that it is not
a change of position nor law. He concluded with his position
that the United States does not accept this fact and that the
U.S. and others seek to revoke it.

On the Sidelines
--------------


13. (C) In pull-aside conversations, PolOff was surprised to
find a significant number of GODR participants who believe
that many Haitian migrants are not residing permanently in
the Dominican Republic. John Guiliani Valenzuela, a JCE
judge, said that Almeyda believes that a majority of Haitians
travel to Haiti in December and return to the DR in January,
making that time a good one in which to implement a program
of collecting biometric information at the border. Guiliani
also proposed that the USG work with the JCE to seek a
reasonable compromise on the issue of migration.


14. (C) PolOff was also approached by Rosario and Joel
Lantigua, the National Director of Elections, following the
conference. They suggested a non-public dialogue on
migration through unofficial channels. They would like to
permit Post to review proposals they have on registration and
migrant documentation to ensure that they are not taking any
missteps. They proposed private meetings arranged through
personal emails to discuss the mater.

Comment
--------------


15. (C) Post will engage with GODR officials to determine
whether they are making a genuine attempt to find common
ground on migration and especially Haitian matters. If such
discussions were to become public, however, there would
almost certainly be a large public outcry, spearheaded by
Castillo.


16. (C) Although the recommendations of the summit are
positive, they are non-binding and many details remain to be
worked out. For example, a significant number of persons of
Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic may not be
able to qualify for naturalization due to unemployment or
inability to present identity documents from Haiti,
especially if they were not born in Haiti. Post also has
concerns that any plan of regularization or documentation of
foreigners will be held up by a recent drive for a census of
foreigners in the country before the GODR agrees to take any
action. Post plans to continue closely following the
progress and direction of these recommendations, and is
cautiously optimistic that this could at a minimum lead to a
more productive dialogue on migration issues.
BULLEN