Through a statement, the General Directorate of Migration indicated that members of this institution, together with the National Police and the Directorate for the Control of Alcoholic Beverages (COBA), dismantled in an operation on Friday night a gang that trafficked in passports Haitians and visas from a fun center in Santiago.
The entity notified that it acted in response to dozens of complaints from neighbors and citizens who denounced noise and scandals that occurred late at night in the restaurant bar and disco, called Laromate Creole.
Through the document, the institution emphasized that 21 undocumented Haitian nationals were detained in the operation.
Some 15 Haitian passports were also confiscated, as well as the cash sums of 56,500.00 Dominican pesos, 890 dollars and 4,100 Haitian gourdes.
Migration indicated that during the operation, the Consul General of Haiti in Santiago, James Jacques, came to the scene and asked that Mr. Jolivain Nelson, who had been seized the 15 passports and the money in the operation, be handed over to him.
The document indicates that when Jaques was not successful in his intentions, he asked the Immigration personnel to accompany them, in order to manage the documents of some of the detainees.
Then he moved with the group to the Santiago Migration Reception Center, “where he stayed for about two hours while he filled out the documents for the Haitians who were undocumented.”
According to the institution, the Haitian diplomat was never arrested or mistreated by the staff of the General Directorate of Migration, since he was not in the place, but rather intervened by those who had been detained.
This clarification was made by the entity to deny the statements made by the Haitian consul in Santiago, who this Saturday at a press conference denounced that the act committed on Friday was “an abuse and disregard on the part of the Dominican authorities.”
