Dominican Republic:
Racist Outpouring Against Haitians

Apr 28, 2025

This article is translated from the April 12 issue #1348 of Combat Ouvrier (Workers Fight), the paper of the Trotskyist group of that name active in Guadeloupe and Martinique, two islands that are French overseas departments in the Caribbean.

Dominican Republic president Luis Abinader announced in early April a set of 15 restrictions aimed at strengthening control over immigrants from Haiti, which lies directly to the east on the shared Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Haitian immigrants are a significant part of the informal workforce in the Dominican Republic, especially in construction, agriculture, and domestic service. Racial discrimination against Haitians serves capitalists as a political tool to maintain the brutal exploitation and super-exploitation of this big part of the working class. They work the toughest jobs for the lowest wages and live in the most dilapidated housing.

Among the most demeaning of Abinader’s new rules is the requirement for public hospitals to request identification papers from patients to document their legal status in the country. Abinader claims this law will “guarantee that public services are reserved primarily for citizens and residents with legal status.”

Even with valid papers, Haitians do not dare leave their homes. Riding a bus or a taxi means risking being rounded up, imprisoned, raped, killed, or deported across the border without their few belongings. Abinader had already launched an earlier campaign of mass expulsions of Haitians. In January, the Dominican Directorate General of Migration announced the creation of an immigrant detention center. An estimated 15,000 Haitians were expelled from the Dominican Republic in the first two weeks of this year alone.

Abinader’s speeches and actions stoke the fire of violence of far-right groups targeting Haitians. One of these groups, Old Dominican Order, organized a recent demonstration. Draped in black and waving Dominican flags, they chanted slogans like, “Out with foreigners! The Dominican Republic belongs to Dominicans!” and “No Haitians on Dominican land!” Tensions escalated when the demonstrators deviated from their authorized route, entered predominantly Haitian neighborhoods, and attacked Haitian homes.

As for native Dominican workers, their own exploitation is based on this division between poor Dominicans and poor Haitians. At the root of racism and oppression is the capitalist system. Proletarians, regardless of their skin color—Black, mixed-race, or white—share a vested interest in putting an end to this bankrupt economic and social system.