In
September 2013 the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional
Court ruled that those born to undocumented foreigners
would not be able to maintain citizenship, mainly
impacting Dominicans of Haitian descent. The deadline to
formalize one’s legal status passed in June, with many
thousands left unable to do so because of a lack of
documentation. Already nearly 40,000 have “voluntarily”
self-deported to Haiti, fearing a looming crackdown in
the country many of them have never left. At a
meeting of the Organization of
American States (OAS) on Jul. 8, Haitian
foreign minister Lener Renauld accused the Dominicans of
leaving Haitians at the border “like dogs.”
But just three months after the court’s ruling,
before the world’s attention turned to the island of
Hispaniola and the humanitarian crisis on the border,
the Dominican Republic hired a D.C.-based lobbying firm
to assist with “consolidating and strengthening the
image of the Dominican State in the eyes of the [sic]
international public opinion,”
according to documents
filed as part of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The documents show that the Dominican Republic
paid the lobbying firm Steptoe & Johnson over
$820,000 between January and
August of 2014. The relationship appears to
be ongoing however, and it is likely that those costs
have only increased with the spotlight now firmly on the
Dominican Republic and the firm bringing in hourly rates
of around $1,000.
Lobbyists for Steptoe & Johnson
distributed copies of talking
points to congressional and executive
offices, describing the migration policy as “modern and
transparent” and as a means of protecting the
“fundamental rights” of everyone living in the Dominican
Republic. Between January and May 2014, the lobbyists
met with the offices of
at least 24 members of congress,
including key players on the foreign affairs committee.
In addition to interactions with congress, the contract
between the Dominican Republic and Steptoe & Johnson
describes
a number of other actions,
including placement of “interviews, features, opinion
pieces in U.S. mainstream media.”
At the OAS meeting on Jul. 8, Haiti asked for
international support in coming to a solution to the
crisis. A mission from the OAS is set to travel to
Hispaniola this weekend. While other Caribbean nations
have been vocal in defense of Haiti and have criticized
the Dominican Republic’s actions, much of the rest of
the hemisphere has remained on the sidelines. The U.S.,
noted that it was
“monitoring the situation closely” and providing funding
to civil society groups working in the border area. In
private meetings, U.S. officials have stated that their
silence is not an indication of how serious they are
taking this, but they have preferred to work behind the
scenes with the two countries so far.
At the meeting the Dominican Republic’s
representative to the OAS accused Haiti of leading a
“misinformation campaign” designed to hide the facts.
But while he said there were no deportations currently
happening, Wade McMullen, an attorney at the Robert F.
Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights,
told the
Miami Herald
that, “Deportations, forcible removals are happening on
a consistent and ongoing basis… None of the things the
Dominican government said they were going to do…are
happening.” The lobbying contract also notes that
Steptoe & Johnson is responsible for “writing of texts”
for press releases, speeches and “arguments.”
Who’s really running the
misinformation
campaign? And how much is it costing? |