The Dominican Republic says that it arrested more than 130 Haitian women and children on the first day of a repression of undocumented migrants in the hospitals of Santo Domingo.
Many women arrested on Monday were pregnant and others had recently given birth.
Repression is part of the government plan announced last year to expel up to 10,000 undocumented migrants per week to stem the migration of neighboring Haiti.
The government of President Luis Abinader, however, was criticized for his severe treatment of Haitian migrants, because many flee the violence and poverty of extreme gangs in the capital Port-au-Prince.
The Immigration Department said that women “offered worthy treatment” after being taken to a detention center where their biometric and fingerprint data was recorded.
A Haitian woman who had accompanied her pregnant friend to the hospital said that government’s actions would lead to the uncertainty of pregnant women who need care.
“If a woman has given birth today, she cannot take her today, because she does not know what will happen. And if she has a cesarean, she does not know what will happen either, because there is never a doctor with her to help if something happens on the road, with the baby or with her,” she said.
Authorities have said that women will receive medical treatment and that all undocumented mothers will be repatriated.
Many Haitians have crossed the shared border with the Dominican Republic to escape the escalation of violence and hunger, sometimes in several trucks per day.
To tighten these figures, the Dominican Republic expelled more than 80,000 people in Haiti in the first three months of this year, according to the AFP news agency.
The government of President Abinader has already expressed his frustration in the face of the failure of the international community to restore stability in Haiti.
