Why is the Dominican Republic deporting Haitian migrants?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Dominican Republic has deported nearly 150,000 people it claims are of Haitian descent since October 2024. Many of them are unaccompanied minors or people born in the Dominican Republic but stripped of citizenship in 2013. While officials say they are enforcing immigration laws, a recent Al Jazeera documentary points to a deeper history of anti-Blackness and anti-Haitian sentiment on the island.
In this episode:
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Natasha Del Toro (@ndeltoro), Al Jazeera journalist
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker, Sonia Bhagat and Ashish Malhotra, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Khaled Soltan, Mariana Navarrete, Kisaa Zehra, Remas Alhawari, Kingwell Ma, and our guest host, Manuel Rapalo. It was edited by Kylene Kiang.
Joe Plourde mixed this episode. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah,Mohannad Al-Melhem, Kylene Kiang. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, Haiti is in freefall. So why is the Dominican Republic deporting people there? |
| 0:17.0 | The Dominican Republic is deporting thousands of people across the border to Haiti. |
| 0:22.6 | Even as gangs there tighten her grip and the crisis worsens. |
| 0:26.6 | What does the DR's crackdown on Haitian migrants reveal about the story of two neighbors? |
| 0:32.6 | I'm Manuel Rappalo, and this is The Take. |
| 0:55.0 | My name is Natasha D'Oro. I'm an investigative correspondent and podcast host for Al Jazeera and other outlets, and I know exactly where you're sitting right now. |
| 1:02.4 | Natasha, award-winning international journalist, fellow guest host of The Take. Welcome to the show. |
| 1:11.6 | It's nice to have you on the other side of the mic. Let's start with the big picture here, the relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These are two countries that share an island. One of these countries has been the victim of a spiral of chaos and |
| 1:18.9 | uncertainty for years. Armed groups in Haiti have made significant gains, a UN-backed mission, and the |
| 1:25.8 | police unable to stop them. |
| 1:28.7 | There seems to be no control over the supply of guns, despite a United Nations arms embargo |
| 1:34.6 | imposed three years ago. |
| 1:37.0 | So your film, nowhere to belong, which was produced by Al Jazeera Fault Lines, sets out |
| 1:43.3 | to tell the story of how the Dominicans are responding here. |
| 1:47.7 | The film starts with you on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. |
| 1:52.9 | What did you see? |
| 1:55.0 | So, yeah, Manny, first of all, thanks for having me here. |
| 1:57.6 | It's interesting to be on the other side of the mic. |
| 2:00.4 | It gives me a little bit of |
| 2:01.3 | sympathy for some of our guests. This film, so we were in Haiti in February, and one of the reasons |
| 2:11.6 | that we decided to make this documentary right now is because the president of the Dominican |
... |
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