14155: (Chamberlain) Dominican-Haitian Immigration (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ANDRES CALA

   SANTO DOMINGO, Dec 16 (AP) -- In a landmark ruling, a district court in
the Dominican Republic has ordered the government to grant citizenship to
two children born to illegal Haitian immigrants.
   The ruling, disclosed on Monday but dated Dec. 4, orders the Central
Electoral Committee to register Ruben and Estefani Sainte-Jean Bazil, 7 and
5, as Dominican citizens and to give them birth certificates.
   "The conclusion is as clear as coconut water," said Joseph Cherubin,
director of the Social Cultural Movement for Haitian Workers, a group that
helped parents Oberne Sainte-Jean and Carmelite Bazil file the lawsuit Oct.
25. "Everyone who is born in Dominican Republic is a citizen."
   In the past, authorities have routinely denied citizenship requests to
Haitians whose children were born in the Dominican Republic.
   In its ruling, the court said the children's rights had been abused by
authorities who failed to recognize their citizenship claims.
   Congressmen Pelegrin Castillo and Jose Ricardo Taveras called the ruling
an affront to "authentic Dominicans" and said an appeal would be filed to
the Supreme Court.
   Tensions run high between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share
the island of Hispaniola. After Haiti won its independence from France in
1804 and became the first black republic in the New World, Haitian leaders
controlled portions of what is now the Dominican Republic.
   In 1844, Haitian leaders were ousted from the Dominican Republic, and in
1937, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the country cleansed of
Haitians. Approximately 12,000 to 25,000 were killed in massacres.
   Today, Dominicans complain about the flow of illegal Haitian immigrants,
and often children born in the Dominican Republic live without citizenship
rights in either country. Their legal limbo in the Dominican Republic
sometimes prevents children from attending schools or obtaining other
benefits due to Dominican citizens.