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Birthright Citizenship In The Dominican Republic

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The Dominican Republic government for centuries granted citizenship to all children born in the country, this was known as jus soli or birthright citizenship. The Dominican Republican constitution stated, “Dominicans are: All persons born in the territory of the Republic with the exception of the legitimate children of foreigners resident in the country in diplomatic representation or in transit” ("Dominican Republic - Constitution & Politics." Foreign Law Guide). This meant that children born in the Dominican Republic to migrants who stayed in the country exceeding 10 days had a constitutional right to Dominican nationality. Hundreds of thousands of children born to immigrants gained citizenship through this Constitutional right once their …show more content…

Finally, in 2007 after they were tired of appealing the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Dominican Central Electoral Council officially instructed its employees to deny citizenship documents to all children born to illegal immigrants, which they named Resolution 12. Just when you thought the Dominican Central Council could not be any more malicious and inhumane, they decided in 2010 to issue a constitutional reform, which eliminated birthright citizenship in the Dominican Republic. This would be first time in Dominican history where the nationality of children born in the country to undocumented immigrant parents would be denied. However, the Constitution of 2010 itself recognizes in Article 18.2 the nationality of people who were already considered Dominican nationals prior to 2010 so the Constitutional change applies only to those born after 2010. Fast-forward three years to September 23, 20013 the Dominican Constitutional Court, through resolution TC 0168/13 retroactively denied Dominican nationality to anyone born after 1929. This resolution argued that anyone who does not have at least one parent of Dominican blood, are considered undocumented immigrants which then labels them as “in transit.”. The Dominican Constitutional Court immediately ordered the review of the civil registry dating back to 1929. The Constitutional court stated

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