The Government and the Dominican Catholic Church recognize the need for the country to implement stricter controls to stop Haitian immigration. Referring to the tense situation in the communities of Santiago and San Juan de la Maguana where the population threatened to expel by force the Haitian https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2008-haiti-social-risk-of-dominican-haitian-clashes-on-january-3.html . The Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez said he was opposed to any form of violence and has encouraged the search for a solution based on the comprehension, the wisdom and collaboration" that involves the improvement of the immigration situation". Catholic leaders understand that it's a delicate situation that must be handled with care.

Carlos Morales Troncoso, Minister of Foreign Affairs in agreement with the position of Cardinal, said that important progress in the resolution of the problem of immigration, had been done in the framework of the Joint Bilateral Commission [reactivated last July] "We are very advanced, we expect that the political situation in Haiti stabilizes, to pursue our discussions with the new government of Haiti."

Fritz Cineas, Haiti's ambassador in the country, while taking the defense of its compatriots, acknowledges that some of them violate national laws, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2021-haiti-diplomacy-the-ambassador-of-haiti-deplored-the-behavior-of-his-compatriots.html but says that most Haitians are working and contributing to the progress of the Dominican Republic. Recalling that the Government of Haiti respects the exercise of the sovereignty of the Dominican Republic and that the law on immigration in this country dates back to 2004, but was not applied.

[HL - The actions of some Dominicans against our compatriots, motivated by the poor behavior of a minority of Haitian are unacceptable and outside the law. However, before judging the Dominicans, we ask what would be the reaction of our compatriots in Haiti, if in a city, the number of illegal immigrants Dominicans was greater than the number of residents... and that some of these Dominicans were committing wrongdoing against our people ?

Hopefully that in the framework of the Joint Bilateral Commission a negotiated solution be found quickly, because if, under pressure from the opposition, the Dominican Government was compelled to enforce the law on immigration, these are hundreds of thousands of our compatriots who would find themselves in delicate situations.]

S/ HaitiLibre