SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) 鈥 Dominican President Luis Abinader has announced more than a dozen measures to crack down on migrants who have entered the Dominican Republic illegally as people in neighboring Haiti flee a surge in gang violence.
The measures that Abinader qualified as 鈥減ainful but necessary鈥 in a speech Sunday include charging patients for hospital services and sanctioning those who rent homes or commercial businesses to migrants who lack proper documentation.
鈥淭he rights of Dominicans will not be displaced. Our identity will not be diluted. Our generosity will not be exploited. Here, solidarity has limits,鈥 Abinader said.
He said that starting on April 21, hospital staff will be required to ask patients for their identification, work permit and proof of residence.
If a patient is unable to present any of those documents, they will receive medical attention and then be deported immediately, Abinader said, adding that a migration agent will be stationed at every hospital to ensure compliance.
The government also will deploy an additional 1,500 soldiers to the border that the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, boosting the total number of personnel stationed there to 11,000, Abinader said.
He also announced he would speed up construction of a border wall to add another eight miles (13 kilometers) to the 34 miles (54 kilometers) .
鈥淚 recognize that many are concerned about the threat Haiti poses. Concerned about the irregular migration it causes. Concerned about the burden this places on our hospitals, our schools, the risks to our security, and the strain on our economy,鈥 Abinader said.
So far, his administration has deported more than 180,000 suspected undocumented migrants since it announced in October that it would deport 10,000 of them a week. Human rights activists and dozens of those who have been deported , including breaking into homes without a warrant to arrest people.
Abinader also announced that legislators would debate a new bill calling for stricter penalties against those who help .
鈥淭he violence that is destroying Haiti will not cross over to the Dominican Republic,鈥 Abinader said.
The president added he would try to have businesses hire only Dominican workers in certain sectors.
鈥淔or far too long, agriculture and construction have depended on illegal workers,鈥 he said.
Abinader spoke a week after an ultranationalist movement organized a protest in a Dominican community where many Haitians live to demand that the government impose measures against illegal migration as it threatened to hold a national protest if its demands were not met.
Abinader鈥檚 announcement also comes as gangs in Haiti that control at least 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, continue to attack once-peaceful communities in a bid to control more territory.
He called on the international community to 鈥渄o their duty,鈥 noting that Haiti needs help and that the Dominican Republic 鈥渃annot and should not burden a crisis that is not theirs.鈥
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Associated Press reporter D谩nica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed.
