Mayor de Blasio discusses the humanitarian situation concerning Haitians living in the Dominican Rep
REBECCA BLACKWELL/AP
Milene Monime, 16, sits as her 2-month-old son Jefferson Thezon (center) sleeps next to another person's child in classroom in Fonbaya, Haiti, where her family and others are staying after being deported from the Dominican Republic.
Mayor de Blasio condemned the looming expulsions of thousands of people of Haitian descent from the Dominican Republic Sunday, calling it immoral and racist.
“It is clearly an illegal act. It is an immoral act. It is a racist act by the Dominican government,” de Blasio said. “And it’s happening because these people are black. And it cannot be accepted.”
Up to 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitian migrants fear being forced out of the Dominican Republic after a deadline to petition for permission to stay passed last week.
The trouble goes back to a 2013 court ruling that stripped the citizenship of people born in the Dominican Republic if their parents were not citizens.
De Blasio urged the government to reverse course and warned that many Americans might avoid travel to the island nation, a popular tourist destination, if the situation is not resolved.
