At 6am on Monday April 21, 2025, agents from the General Directorate of Migration (DGM), accompanied by military personnel, went to the San Lorenzo de Los Mina maternity hospital in Santo Domingo to begin implementing a migration verification protocol in 33 public hospitals across the country. The operation follows an announcement by President Luis Abinader to regulate access to hospital care for irregular migrants, particularly Haitians, as part of a tougher policy against illegal immigration.
The protocol requires patients to present documents such as official identification, a letter of employment and proof of residence in order to receive care. If these conditions are not met, the patient will be treated but will have to be repatriated once he or she has recovered. An immigration officer will be assigned to each hospital to ensure compliance with these rules, with the aim of protecting public resources and guaranteeing that Dominicans have priority access to healthcare services.
The San Lorenzo de Los Mina maternity hospital is a major public facility in Santo Domingo, specializing in high-risk births. Despite a 392 million Dominican peso renovation in 2017, the hospital faces a worrying health situation, with a high neonatal mortality rate. In the first quarter of 2023, 72 newborns died there, out of 1,949 births, a mortality rate of over 35%. The main causes are prematurity, nosocomial infections, complex congenital malformations and other neonatal complications. This situation led to the dismissal of the hospital director and the head of the neonatology department in April 2023, as well as to the opening of an official inquiry.
The migration context is at the heart of this government measure. In 2024, patients of Haitian origin accounted for a significant proportion of consultations and births in Dominican public hospitals: 8.13% of consultations and 36% of births. This strong presence has raised concerns about the capacity of health infrastructures to meet demand, hence the government’s determination to more strictly control access to healthcare for irregular migrants.
This policy is part of a package of 15 measures announced by President Abinader to combat illegal immigration, including the reinforcement of border surveillance with the addition of 1,500 soldiers and the extension of the 13 km border wall, as well as biometric checks and the suspension of visa issuance to certain categories of Haitian migrants.
However, this approach has been criticized by international organizations such as Amnesty International, which denounces human rights violations, racial profiling and collective expulsions of Haitian migrants, calling for migration policies that respect human dignity and fundamental rights.
In short, Monday’s intervention at the San Lorenzo de Los Mina maternity hospital is part of a more rigorous migration policy implemented by the Dominican government to regulate access to care in public hospitals, in a context of strong Haitian migratory pressure and major health challenges in this hospital establishment.