(TRENTON) – Assemblywomen L. Grace Spencer (D-Essex) and Shavonda Sumter (D-Passaic/Bergen) on Wednesday released the following statement decrying a recent court ruling that strips Dominican citizenship from the children of Haitian migrants:
“Many Americans travel to the Dominican Republic to vacation and thus contribute to its economy, and thousands of Americans have taken up residency in the country.
“The action of the Dominican Republic, especially following the U.S. Department of Labor’s report raising concern about the working conditions for thousands of Haitian workers, is troubling.
“Quite frankly, the Dominican Republic has profited from the cheap labor of undocumented migrant Haitians who for decades have worked their sugar fields, and to now cast them aside calls for harsh comments by countries benefiting from their products.
“As this country attempts to draft policies that will allow all immigrants – including those migrating from the Dominican Republic – to become citizens, one must ask how immigrants from the Dominican Republic would feel if someone was to turn its back on them?”