SANTO DOMINGO – The Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) called on legislators to vote against the Comprehensive Bill on Trafficking in Persons, Extortion and Smuggling of Migrants submitted to the National Congress by the Executive Power, after stating that if approved it would put national sovereignty in “serious danger”.
The president of the PRSC, Federico Antún Batlle (Quique), maintained that the law that is intended to be approved applies to other nations, “but never to the Dominican Republic, which for decades has been suffering a peaceful invasion by Haitians that threatens our sovereignty.”
He said that it is a piece of legislation that, if turned into law, “its application would precipitate the collapse of the nation, which we should never allow.”
“We call on the Senate, where said bill rests, to reject it purely and simply, and not play politicking or attitudes to ‘dizzy’ the population by saying that they are going to make corrections to the piece to preserve Dominican citizenship,” he added.
Quique Antún stated that in the country there are laws, and the Constitution itself, that protect victims of trafficking “and penalize this type of illegal activity in one way or another.”
“Legislators must assume their responsibility if they feel good Dominicans, to preserve the great legacy of the founders of the Republic, of living in a free and sovereign State,” he stressed.
The president of the Reformist Party criticized that the bill establishes that victims of trafficking can manage their regular stay in the country by complying with some requirements to obtain immigration and residence permits.
He also censured that the piece establishes that these people who have entered the country irregularly can obtain a work permit, as well as any other that is necessary before the corresponding state institutions.
Likewise, they can opt for health insurance and receive comprehensive care, assistance and protection from the moment they are identified as victims of trafficking.
He assured that if this bill on human trafficking is approved, in which facilities and privileges are provided to illegal migrants to regularize their status, “it will cause a huge exodus from Haiti to our territory that could cause our sovereignty to collapse.”
