A sharp rise in border expulsions by Dominican authorities has ignited international outrage, as scores of pregnant and breastfeeding Haitian women are being ejected into one of the most dangerous humanitarian zones in the Western Hemisphere.
Since late April, border officials have ramped up removals, targeting women in vulnerable conditions and pushing them across into Haiti — a nation gripped by armed gangs, food shortages, and a paralyzed healthcare system. Human rights groups say the crackdown is not only alarming in scope, but devoid of compassion or legal justification.
“This isn’t migration policy. It’s state-sponsored neglect,” said a senior aid official based in Port-au-Prince. “You’re sending women and infants into an active crisis zone. That’s not deportation — it’s abandonment.”
The operation appears to fulfill a controversial campaign promise by Dominican President Luis Abinader, freshly reelected in May, to intensify removals amid nationalistic calls to tighten borders. But critics argue that the political calculus ignores human cost.
Over 19,000 people were deported by land last month alone — a record surge, according to data shared by the International Organization for Migration. Of those, dozens each day were pregnant or nursing, intercepted and returned through high-volume crossings with little to no assessment of their wellbeing.
The UN has condemned the expulsions as a breach of international protections and called on the Dominican Republic to immediately suspend removals of women with medical vulnerabilities. But enforcement continues.
Inside Haiti, conditions remain dire. More than a million people have fled their homes in the past year as criminal factions tighten their grip on the capital. The healthcare network is fragmented. Maternity wards are under siege. And now, with the return of vulnerable women and newborns, the humanitarian load deepens.
No clear plan has been presented by either government to address the fallout.
“This is a region on the brink,” warned a UN spokesperson. “And instead of relief, we’re watching policies that multiply the risk.”
As tensions mount between the two nations that share the island of Hispaniola, observers say the coming weeks may set a defining precedent: whether political resolve trumps basic human dignity — or vice versa.
