Legal Problems of Dominicans Citizens that have Illegal Parents

Legal Problems of Dominicans Citizens that have Illegal Parents

Martha Carina Marinangeli R.

According to article 18 of the “Dominican” Constitution the children of a person who does not have the “Dominican” nationality are not “Dominicans”. In this essay I am going to argue the limitations and criminal character of such definitions. Second, I am going to show that these children ancestors are not “Haitians” but a sector of a huge and international labor force. Then, I am going to show the historical contributions of this sector as a condition to reconsider the Dominican and constitutional definition imposed by the bourgeoisie via its Constitution. In the last paragraph, I will present my conclusion recommending a “solution” to this historical situation which none of the republican governments had confronted before.

The concept of citizenship given in the “Dominican” Constitution is too limited and excludes a huge sector of the labor force which has contributed to shape the social totality of today’s democratic society. For that reason, I suggest a redefinition of the same based on the economic contribution of this particular sector of the labor force, exploited by a particular “political community”, precisely the one who imposes its constitutional definition. Therefore, such a class sector, the “Haitian” labor force, has already assumed a set of “rights and obligations”.  According to Andrew Heywood in his Political Ideas and Concepts, “citizenship (…) represents a relationship between the individual and the State, in which the two are bound together by reciprocal rights and obligation”.

For years, the “Haitian” sector of the labor force has been working and paying taxes to the State, but this class machine does not consider it as “citizens”, even though there is a very clear political determination, that is, a “legal status and an identity” with the economic structure and the community for decades. Above and beyond those objective conditions, the State continues alienating such a particular sector. Should the children of “Haitians” who have been contributing to the development of democratic society continue to be considered non-citizens and their parents “illegal”?

We are aware of the economic and social conditions of this particular economic sector of our society. Recently, a group of “Haitians”, exploited workers protested in from of the Labor Department, demanding its intervention so they could get paid. This repeated historical abuse is a well established practice in this part of the island.  So the historical development of capital in this society cannot be written without a chapter of the “Haitian” labor force.

As you can see the children of these “human families”, by the Constitution definition are not entitled to enjoy the necessary rights, freedom, liberty and justice other citizens enjoy in the whole island. They cannot participate in the exercise of political power or participate in elections to elect the representatives of the social class which exploit their labor force, not to speak of the right to a “modicum of economic welfare and security”.

In addition, the definition established in the Constitution negates the participation of this sector in the historical and social struggles, which we consider the motor of citizenship. This total negation has been reproduced in time because this sector of the labor force has not decided to confront the social class that imposes the Constitution.

I may conclude by saying that the first Haitians were brought to this country before Rafael L. Trujillo’s government. They were brought to do the work that Dominicans did not want to, such as cutting the sugar cane, and later they began to work in the construction industry. After these first groups were brought, they started bringing their families looking for better life conditions. The only objection they have encountered is that each certain time they were chased and sent to Haiti, but as this was not a constant practice, they used to come back to the Dominican Republic. What happens now is that our current government is trying to regulate the Haitian immigration, but they are not likely to do it in the appropriate way.

            Finally, even though I consider that it would be better to help them in their country, I suggest that this regulation may be well studied so that a better solution can be found.