Dominican Republic has expelled 11,000 Haitians in past week, with more coming

The Dominican Republic said Tuesday it has deported or repatriated nearly 11,000 Haitians in the past week, fulfilling a pledge to do so weekly as neighboring Haiti scrambles to handle the influx while besieged by gang violence and poverty.

The Dominican government announced last week that it would deport up to 10,000 Haitians a week, citing an “excess” of immigrants as relations between the countries that share the island of Hispaniola continue to sour. These are the largest such deportations in recent history there.

The announcement prompted Haitian officials to request an emergency meeting at the Organization of American States, where Haitian permanent representative Gandy Thomas called the deportations “a strategy of ethnic cleansing” and “a discriminatory campaign against Haitians due to their nationality and color of their skin.”

Thomas called for dialogue and a “respectful solution,” saying the deportations will “worsen the fragility of our infrastructure while the deportees will arrive with no support, no resources and no ties to their community.”

At least half a million Haitians live in the Dominican Republic, according to human rights groups.

Activists say the deportations put the lives of thousands at risk. A U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police that began earlier this year to try to quell gang violence is facing a lack of funds and personnel.

“There are a great number of armed groups that are just like birds of prey waiting to swoop down and take advantage of these people,” said Sam Guillaume with Haiti’s Support Group for Returnees and Refugees.

Guillaume accused Dominican authorities of “hunting down” Haitians, asserting that some are extorted, raped or held in jail with no water or food and subjected to