Thousands of Haitians and people of Haitian descent have fled the Dominican Republic in recent weeks, and many of them have not gone far.
People like Elissene Jean Louis and his family have been setting up flimsy homes along Haiti’s side of the border on the island of Hispaniola, building shacks with bed sheets, tree branches, cardboard or whatever else they can find.
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, a Haitian girl waits in line with her family for clothing handed out by the Catholic community in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, on the border with the D.R. Thousands of Haitians and people of Haitian descent have fled the D.R. in recent weeks, setting up flimsy homes in growing encampments along the Haiti side of the border on the island of Hispaniola. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
The growing encampments, which lack water, electricity or other services, are starting to resemble the squalid settlements that emerged following the devastating January 2010 earthquake, though they remain far smaller. Boys play soccer in the dust and families dry clothes on the old wires and wooden posts of a rickety fence near the border across from the Dominican town of Pedernales.
The camps along the border started to grow after June 17, the deadline in the Dominican Republic to apply for legal residency under a new program that the Dominican government said was intended to bring order to the unchecked flow of migrants in the country.
More than 288,000 people applied for residency in the Dominican Republic and so far, about 25,000 have received their documents to stay and work there and another 40,000 have been approved.
The Dominican government says 66,000 people have returned to Haiti since the deadline. Many of them could not qualify for residency because they didn’t meet the requirements. Others say they have felt increasing hostility in the Dominican Republic toward people from Haiti.
At points along the line separating the countries, the migrants who left peer back at the country they once called home, behind the metal gates manned by Dominican border guards.
In Anse-a-Pitre, 28-year-old Molene Charles, told journalists that she had worked as a street vendor in the Dominican Republic for 14 years but fled her home with her family of five after being threatened by locals. Later, her husband, Jean Louis, said he returned to find their home had been burned to the ground.
Now, they and their four children live with hundreds of other families in Anse-a-Pitre, a low-lying, arid area just west of Pedernales. There are now about 700 families living here.
The people in the camp were desperately poor when they arrived and they are now cut off from the jobs that sustained them in the Dominican Republic. They are receiving food, clothing and other assistance from the Catholic Church and other charities, but little from their government, which has warned that the camps are becoming a crisis and has threatened to remove at least some of the people. Those in the camps, however, say they have nowhere else to go.
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In this Aug. 4, 2015 photo, a Haitian youth peers from behind a border fence separating the Haitian town of Malpasse and the Dominican Republic town of Jimani. Thousands of Haitians and people of Haitian descent have fled the D.R. in recent weeks, setting up encampments along the Haiti side of the border, cut off from the jobs that sustained them in the D.R. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, a post marks the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic where a footbridge connects the Haitian town of Anse-a-Pitres, top, and the Dominican town of Perdernales. After the D.R.’s June 17 deadline to apply for legal residency under a new program to organize the flow of migrants across the border from Haiti, more than 288,000 people applied. So far about 25,000 have received their documents while another 40,000 have been approved. The Dominican government says 66,000 people have returned to Haiti since the deadline. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, a Dominican Republic border agent locks a gate that separates the D.R. town of Pedernales from the Haitian town of Anse-a-Pitres. According to the government, more than 288,000 people applied for residency in the D.R. and so far, about 25,000 have received their documents to stay and work, and another 40,000 have been approved. Authorities also say 66,000 people have returned to Haiti since the June 17 deadline to apply for legal residency. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 4, 2015 photo, Dominican Republic soldiers and civilians stand at the gate that separates the D.R. from in Malpasse Haiti. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, clothes hang to dry in a camp set up by Haitians who either fled from or were deported from the Dominican Republic in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti on the border with the D.R. The Haitian government has warned that the camps are becoming a crisis and has threatened to remove at least some of the people. However, some people in the camps, say they have nowhere else to go. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, Haitian Yolner Macenat holds a chicken, alongside his little brother Yodler Macenat outside an encampment in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti where Haitians are living after either fleeing from, or getting deported from, the Dominican Republic. Yolner brought his chicken from the D.R., and was looking for food to feed it. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, Haitian Molene Charles and her children sleep in their makeshift home in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, after fleeing by foot the the Dominican Republic. Charles, 28, said she had worked as a street vendor in the D.R. for 14 years but fled her home with her family of six after threats by locals. Her husband said he returned to find their home burned to the ground. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, a Haitian girl wears her friend’s sunglasses to pose for a photo in an encampment in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, where some Haitians are living after either fleeing from or getting deported from the Dominican Republic. Most of the children who were born in the D.R. have no birth certificates, according to their parents. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, Haitian Elissene Jean Louis, 61, builds his family’s makeshift home with help from his son Edez at an encampment set up by Haitians who left the Dominican Republic, in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti. Jean Louis’ family fled the D.R. by foot after threats from locals, and now lives here with approximately 700 families who are cut off from the jobs that sustained them in the D.R. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, Haitian Elissene Jean Louis patches up his family’s makeshift home in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, on the border with the Dominican Republic as his children watch. From left are Edez, 13, 15-month-old Geralson, center, and Celine, 5. Jean Louis, a 61-year-old field worker who fled the D.R. with his family after years of threats from locals, arrived here in May after living and working in the D.R. for four decades. On May 17, his family of six traveled by foot for an entire day to reach the border, leaving their belongings behind. When he returned to check on their home, he found it burned down. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 4, 2015 photo, Dominican-born Haitian Pierre Wiltiman rests on his father’s donkey in an encampment set up by displaced Haitians in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, after fleeing the D.R. after getting death threats from locals. Wiltiman, 10, has no birth certificate and his father spent most of his working life in the D.R. as a field hand. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, Haitian Molene Charles sweeps the dirt floor of her family’s makeshift home in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, on the border with the Dominican Republic. Molene, 28, who lived and worked in the D.R. for 14 years as a street vendor, fled her home with her husband Elissene Jean Louis and their four children after receiving threats from locals. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 4, 2015 photo, Haitian Elissene Jean Louis, 61, holds his 15-month-old son Geralson in the encampment where his family of six fled to by foot in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, on the border with the Dominican Republic. The camp, which lacks water, electricity or other services, is starting to resemble the settlements that emerged following the January 2010 earthquake, though they remain far smaller. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, Haitian Molene Charles bathes her 15-month-old son Geralson next to their makeshift home in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti, on the border with the Dominican Republic, after fleeing the D.R. by foot due to threats from locals. Hundreds of thousands of people applied for residency in the D.R., but many could not qualify for residency because they could not meet the requirements. Others say they have also felt increasing hostility toward people from Haiti in the Dominican Republic. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
In this Aug. 3, 2015 photo, Sister Constencia of Fatima works to distribute rice, beans, oil and clothing to Haitians who were either deported or fled the Dominican Republic, at an encampment in Anse-a-Pitres, Haiti. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
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