Dominican Republic detains and deported pregnant Haitians

The wait for Haitian migrants in Mexico to cross into the US 2:58

(CNN Spanish) -

The Director of Migration of the Dominican Republic, Enrique García, confirmed this Friday that a group of Haitian women in labor were detained and deported to their country on charges of being illegally on Dominican soil.

On Thursday, various non-governmental organizations had denounced the situation, which comes in the midst of an acute political crisis in Haiti after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

The deportations of pregnant women began Tuesday, Garcia said from Dajabón, the main border crossing with Haiti.

The Director of Migration assured that the deportations are being carried out according to due process.

In recent weeks, the Dominican authorities have adopted measures to curb illegal immigration from the neighboring country, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola.

Among those measures, they announced that public hospitals would only treat undocumented foreigners in cases of medical emergency.

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It was also announced that they would prohibit the entry of pregnant women of more than six months if they do not have the corresponding medical insurance.

This Friday, the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, reported that the Dominican health authorities have not denied service to women in labor from the neighboring country and that they will investigate the complaint.

In turn, Rivera expressed the concern of the Dominican authorities about the hospital capacity that is saturated by Haitian women in labor, and explained that this harms the Dominican women the most.

The minister did not give details on what portion of the hospital capacity is occupied by Haitian women.

The United Nations Children's Fund condemned the complaint that inspectors from the General Directorate of Migration detained and deported Haitian women in labor and women with newborns in their arms seeking care in hospitals in the country.

The UNICEF representative in Haiti, Bruno Maes, wrote on his Twitter account that UNICEF condemns the actions of the immigration authorities.

CNN tried to get a comment from the Haitian embassy in Santo Domingo, but has received no response.