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As violence and unrest in Haiti continues to escalate, undocumented Haitian immigrants are being deported from the neighbouring Dominican Republic in increasing numbers.

Caitlin McHale Floreal of the Project Esperanza charity has spent the last 16 years teaching young Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic.

Newsday spoke to her to find out how Haitians who cross the border are coping, how many are making across and how much the situation has changed in the country since the gangs were established in Haiti just over a decade ago.

"I don't think we're seeing more right now compared to when the Haitian president was assassinated in 2021. The border's closed. The only time they validated Haitian immigrants was in 2015... it's pretty hard to get residency. Sometimes people even buy identities of people who have passed away."

"Haitians live in fear, deportations are so invasive right now... it used to just the immigration control who would detain people and deport them but the president has asked the regular police to get involved. There's a lot more authority rounding up people so some people sleep in the woods often because they're afraid to sleep in their houses."

"Our school attendance has gone down. Parents are scared to go out so the small children are not getting taken to school. A mother told me last weekend that she was almost deported... but a Dominican who knew her asked for grace for her and she was let go."

(Pic: Haitian citizens carry products purchased on the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic, at the binational Border Market in Dajabon province, Dominican Republic; Credit: Reuters)

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