SANTO DOMINGO — Dominican Republic immigration authorities have launched an intensified nationwide campaign to dismantle transnational criminal networks that profit from facilitating the flow of irregular migration across the country’s borders, the nation’s top migration official announced this week.
Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester, Director General of Migration, laid out the scope of the operation during an interview on the local radio program *Esto No Tiene Nombre*, detailing how these smuggling networks operate as a profitable illicit business that involves both Dominican and Haitian participants. Over months of intelligence gathering, authorities have mapped out the full range of tactics these criminal groups use to move and house undocumented migrants while avoiding detection by border and internal security forces.
Common methods identified by investigators include using unmarked civilian vehicles to transport migrants across checkpoints, renting both formal residential properties and makeshift, hidden shelters to house undocumented people long-term, and guiding migrants along unregulated backroads through remote woodlands and mountainous terrain that lack permanent immigration control outposts.
Lee Ballaster issued a specific warning to Dominican citizens who participate in the scheme by constructing informal residential units exclusively to rent to migrants living in the country without legal status, confirming that enhanced enforcement actions targeting these property owners will be a core focus of the new campaign.
To strengthen the impact of the crackdown, the General Directorate of Migration has expanded its intelligence gathering operations and formalized a close collaborative partnership with the Dominican Public Prosecutor’s Office and multiple national security agencies. The coordinated effort aims to systematically identify, investigate, and prosecute all individuals connected to the smuggling and facilitation of illegal entry, transportation and accommodation of undocumented migrants within Dominican territory.