252 expelled from Dom Rep

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AP):

More than 100 additional people have either been deported to Haiti, or left on their own accord, from neighbouring Dominican Republic after an elderly Dominican couple was killed, authorities and a spokesman for a migrant advocacy group said Monday.

The number of Haitians and people of Haitian descent who've been expelled or volunteered to leave has reached at least 350, said Lolo Sterne, coordinator for Haiti's Office of Migration. Authorities had reported a total of 252 people expelled as of Sunday. Migrant advocates have reported slightly higher numbers.

The expulsions and voluntary departures follow violence that engulfed the town of Neiba in the southwestern corner of the Dominican Republic. The couple was slain last week during an apparent burglary near the border between the two countries, and a Dominican mob retaliated by killing a Haitian man.

seeking refuge

Migrant advocates say many of the deported people first went to a police station seeking refuge, and that some of them volunteered to leave the country because they feared being victims of mob violence. Others left because the Dominican authorities rounded them up in the streets, migrant advocates added.

Dominican police issued a statement saying the people weren't expelled from the country, but rather went to the police station because they feared reprisals and asked authorities to escort them to the border so they could cross it themselves.

The Dominican government announced last week that it has developed a plan to resolve the legal status of people who could lose their citizenship because of the ruling. Details are to be released once a decree is signed and takes effect in the coming days.