The Dominican Republic said on Monday that it was extending the concrete border wall that separates it from Haiti along their shared island of Hispaniola.
Dominican President Luis Abinader has taken a tough line on migration from destitute and violence-plagued Haiti since coming to power in 2020.
Abinader told a news conference on Monday that the wall in northwestern Dajabon province had already “reduced thefts of livestock, engines and vehicles in this region by around 80 percent.”
He also announced a “call to tenders” for an extension of six to 7.5 miles (10-12 kilometers), bringing the total planned length to 109 miles.
Abinader has ratcheted up deportations, expelling 250,000 undocumented Haitians in 2023 alone.
The government unveiled a plan in October to expel 10,000 undocumented Haitians a week as part of a crackdown on migration from its troubled neighbor.
It expelled 142,378 undocumented Haitians in the first four months of that operation, according to government data.
The plan would more than double that number in a year — more than the 495,815 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, according to official statistics.
The wall is set to cover more than half the 210-mile border between the two countries.
Abinader, who was re-elected in 2024, had promised during his first term to continue building the wall in the Dominican Republic’s mountainous regions, where cross-border migration is increasing.
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