Dominican Republic offers help to migrants willing to leave after deadline to seek legal stay
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Migrants who would like to leave the Dominican Republic ahead of a wave of expected deportations are being offered help from the government of the Caribbean country.
The migration agency says it has started a free bus service to take migrants to the border with Haiti. The agency says the program will run for two weeks starting Tuesday.
The announcement Monday follows the June 17 deadline for migrants to apply for legal residency under a program aimed at regulating the flow of migrants across the porous border with Haiti.
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Deputy Interior Minister Washington Gonzalez said the government is reviewing nearly 290,000 applications for legal residency.
Authorities have warned that anyone without proof of legal residency faces deportations but there have as yet been no large-scale immigration raids.