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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRIDGETOWN 000060 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INL/HSTC 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2016 
TAGS: SMIG SOCI CVIS PHUM PGOV PREL KCRM DO DR FR
HA, XL 
SUBJECT: DOMINICA'S ILLEGAL MIGRANT PROBLEM 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Mary Ellen T. Gilroy for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Dominica is struggling to cope with 
increasing numbers of illegal migrants from Haiti and the 
Dominican Republic, an unprecedented situation for this 
small-island state that is one of the poorest countries in 
the Caribbean.  The migrants typically use Dominica as a 
transit point to reach other destinations in the region, but 
increasing numbers have remained to find employment.  Women 
from the Dominican Republic have been migrating to Dominica 
to work as prostitutes, although authorities do not believe 
that trafficking has occurred.  After several years of 
seeming inaction, the Government of Dominica has recently 
taken steps to stem the flow of migrants.  The Government 
will, however, have to overcome suspicions that in the past 
it allowed smuggling to occur because of the cash such a 
lucrative trade brought to a struggling economy or that 
prominent Dominicans may have personally profited from this 
criminal activity.  End summary. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Migration to Rather Than from Dominica 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Illegal migration to Dominica has become an issue of 
increasing concern in this poor country that has typically 
been a place that people migrate from rather than to. 
Haitians form the largest group of migrants, many of whom use 
Dominica as a means to transit to other, wealthier islands in 
the Caribbean.  Increasing numbers, however, have remained in 
Dominica to find employment.  A smaller number of migrants 
either transiting or staying in the country have come from 
the Dominican Republic (DR), with women from the DR filling 
the ranks of Dominica's growing commercial sex trade.  While 
neither migration has yet to cause serious social problems, 
Dominica authorities fear that the involvement of local 
people in migrant smuggling and prostitution could lead to an 
increase in other forms of criminal activity, as well as a 
rise in cases of HIV/AIDS. 
 
----------------- 
Haitian Migration 
----------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Haitians have been migrating to and through Dominica 
for the past ten years, although they began arriving in large 
numbers in 2003, according to Government officials.  While 
none of the officials could give an accurate number of 
Haitians who have arrived in Dominica, one recent estimate 
put the number at more than 11,000 arriving in this country 
of only 70,000 people since 2003.  Most of the Haitians 
entered Dominica legally then used it as a transit point to 
reach other Caribbean islands, particularly the neighboring 
French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.  Government 
officials believe that growing numbers of Haitians have 
chosen to remain in Dominica to work illegally for low wages 
in agriculture and construction.  Their ability to live in 
the country is facilitated by the fact that many Dominicans 
speak a French-based patois similar to Haitian Creole. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Government Unable to Stem the Flow 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Dominica made a limited effort in 2003 to control the 
number of Haitians entering the country by instituting a 
policy that required them to pay a US$400 deposit to 
immigration officials upon arrival, which could only be 
collected upon their documented departure.  Of the over 
11,000 Haitians who paid the deposit, only 100 are believed 
to have collected their money.  When the deposit policy 
failed to dissuade Hatitians from traveling to Dominica, the 
Government drew up a visa regime that was to have gone into 
effect in December 2005.  The plan was put on hold in 
response to concerns that such a measure would restrict the 
freedom of movement of CARICOM nationals.  Although Dominica 
immigration officers could deny entry to Haitians they 
believe are entering the country with the intention of 
illegally traveling elsewhere or remaining to work, they 
rarely do so. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00000060  002 OF 003 
 
 
Is the Government Complicit in Smuggling? 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Domestic critics have castigated the Government of 
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit for its failure to address 
the smuggling of migrants through Dominica.  Some have gone 
so far as to suggest that the Government has allowed 
smuggling to occur because of the money it brings to this 
economically distressed county.  Critics have charged that 
seemingly everyone on the island but the police and other 
officials seem to know that the center of organized smuggling 
is Portsmouth, a town that is represented in Parliament by 
Ian Douglas, a close advisor to PM Skerrit who became 
Attorney General last year. 
 
¶6. (C) DAO reported in 2003 that a high-level Dominica law 
enforcement official said that Ian Douglas's family profited 
from migrant smuggling and that Douglas had personally 
intervened to prevent the police from investigating a 
suspected smuggling network.  The official also alleged that 
Henry Dyer, Dominica's Attorney General at the time, had told 
the police that they should not apprehend illegal migrants in 
Dominica.  DAO commented in the report that it had "no hard 
evidence" to support these allegations. 
 
------------------------- 
Haitian Smuggling Network 
------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) An international smuggling network has developed to 
bring Haitians to Dominica, a high-ranking police official 
recently explained to Poloff.  Haitians are believed to pay a 
facilitator to get them to Dominica, where many arrive 
legally via commercial airlines.  A favored carrier is 
Western Airlines, which flies a 20-seat plane from Haiti to 
Dominica twice a week.  The police official opined to Poloff 
that the sole purpose of Western Airlines flights to Dominica 
is to facilitate migration and expressed frustration with his 
Government's apparent inaction against the carrier. 
 
¶8. (U) From Dominica, the Haitians are smuggled by small 
vessels to other Caribbean islands at a cost of several 
thousand dollars per person.  Boats can often be heard 
leaving ports, fishing villages and remote coastal areas 
under cover of darkness.  Like illegal migrants throughout 
the world, Haitians typically face a perilous journey.  In 
July 2005, for example, the St. Maarten coast guard rescued 
52 Haitians from a small boat that was taking on water and 
had been abandoned by its captain.  The Haitians were 
deported back to Dominica, the country from which they 
departed.  The captain was eventually caught and has been 
charged in Dominica with the illegal transport of migrants. 
The Government has said this is only the first prosecution in 
what will be an ongoing effort to crack down on local 
smugglers.  (Note:  If Haitian migrants have traveled from 
Dominica as far as St. Maarten, it is possible that they 
could reach the U.S. Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.  End 
note.) 
 
------------ 
On to France 
------------ 
 
¶9. (U) The town of Portsmouth is a favored departure point 
from Dominica, in part, because of its location on the 
northern part of the island where it is only a short distance 
from Guadeloupe.  Since Guadeloupe and nearby Martinique are 
French departments, when the Haitians arrive on these islands 
they have technically landed not in overseas colonies but in 
France proper.  The ease with which Haitians have been 
reaching the French islands led France and Dominica to sign 
an agreement in October 2005 to improve the sharing of 
intelligence and cooperation between their coast guards. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
"Spanish" Prostitutes from the Dominican Republic 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶10. (U) The migration to Dominica from the Dominican Republic 
is on a smaller scale than that from Haiti, but works in a 
similar manner.  The one difference is that women from the DR 
have been coming to Dominica to work in the country's growing 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00000060  003 OF 003 
 
 
commercial sex trade.  Many of the women who arrive from the 
DR have fair complexions and are referred to by Dominicans as 
"Spanish," which supposedly makes them particularly appealing 
to their customers.  Most of the women come to Dominica 
voluntarily, knowing they will be prostitutes, according to 
Government officials.  Some are believed to have arrived 
hoping for different forms of employment but turned to 
prostitution after being unable to find other work. 
Government officials who spoke recently to Poloff believe 
there is an organized network that recruits women in the DR 
to work as prostitutes in Dominica.  The officials said, 
however, that they have seen no evidence that these women 
have been coerced or that trafficking has occurred. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Government Criticized Over Prostitution 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) Domestically, the Government has received a great 
deal of criticism for its inability to arrest providers or 
consumers of commercial sex, which is illegal, and the police 
force's efforts to break up prostitution rings have so far 
been ineffective.  A police official explained to Poloff that 
in such a small society as Dominica's, where everyone knows 
everyone else, it is virtually impossible to place police 
officers undercover to infiltrate brothels or other organized 
crime activities.  Meanwhile, community leaders have offered 
stinging critiques of a Dominican society that they say is 
increasingly engaging in illicit behavior that could lead to 
a rise in cases of HIV/AIDS.  Under increasing pressure to 
deal with migrants from the Dominican Republic, particularly 
prostitutes, in December 2005 Dominica began requiring people 
from the DR to have visas to enter the country. 
 
--------------------- 
Why Come to Dominica? 
--------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) A puzzling aspect of Dominica's current migration 
situation is why people from Haiti or the DR would go to one 
of the poorer countries in the Caribbean to find employment. 
According to several knowledgeable observers, despite the 
fact that the country typically has a 25 percent unemployment 
rate, jobs in strenuous occupations such as agriculture and 
construction often go unfilled.  Many Dominicans, 
particularly idle young men, are loath to take such work. 
The observers explained to Poloff that the high unemployment 
rate and other gloomy economic data obscure the fact that 
extended families can typically subsist on food produced on 
the small plots of land they own with supplemental cash 
brought in by a few wage earners.  This leaves an opening for 
desperate migrants who are willing to do hard work for low 
pay while escaping the everyday violence and poor security 
conditions in Haiti. 
 
¶13. (C) Comment:  The Government of Dominica's recent effort 
to stem the tide of migrants belies the fact that it had 
previously done little about the situation.  Only increased 
criticism of the Government and growing fears of social 
problems associated with the migrants appear to have made PM 
Skerrit and his administration pay more attention to the 
matter.  It is still too early to tell if the now seemingly 
energized Government will be successful in dealing with its 
migrant problem, although the meager resources available to 
its coast guard and police suggest that Dominica has a 
difficult task ahead.  In addition, the Government, through 
its actions, will have to overcome skeptics who may believe 
that officials allowed smuggling to occur or even had a hand 
in this criminal activity. 
KRAMER