Immigration Laws: December, 1998 - Number #7

Miami-Dade County, the self-proclaimed Gateway to Latin America, has been losing about one US-born white for each immigrant it attracts. The Washington Post reported that there are "two kinds of native whites -- those who can deal with multiculturalism that has transformed Miami over the past several decades and those who choose not to." In the 1990s, about 95,000 white non-Hispanics left Miami-Dade County, decreasing their number to 492,000, or about one-fifth of the county population, while the white non-Hispanic population of Broward county increased by 82,000.

Whites moving out of Miami cite lower home prices and less crime, better schools, and less congestion but, when pressed, many also mention ethnic change. Tim Robbie, whose family used to own the Miami Dolphins, thinks there is an ethnic "tipping point," described as: "one or two families in a social or business network can leave a community and nothing much changes. But at some point, if enough people leave, the balance suddenly tips, and large groups start selling their homes, and over a period of several years, they create mass demographic shifts." Some say that Miami feels to them like "a foreign country."

Haiti. Children of Haitian parents born in the Dominican Republic are not automatically considered Dominican citizens, according to the Dominican Director of Migration. At least one million Haitians are believed to live in the Dominican Republic, many working for 10 to 20 years without papers in agriculture construction. Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic and French-speaking Haiti have had troubled relations for decades; there are only four official border crossings, including one at Dajabon.

A September 1998 report discussed up to 500,000 Haitians "tolerated" in the Dominican Republic during the sugar harvest, and then deported in September-October, often without getting paid. Despite democratically elected governments in both countries, the problems of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic continue.

William Booth, "A White Migration North From Miami," Washington Post, November 9, 1998. Phil Gunson, "Haiti's sugar cane slaves expelled from a bitter 'paradise'," Guardian, September 4, 1998