Dear Republicans, in a 2013 ruling, the Dominican Republic stripped citizenship from over 200,000 Dominican workers of Haitian descent. Here are the disastrous results. Read and learn.

A new petition by the people to the Obama administration, asks the White House to address human rights abuses taking place in the Dominican Republic resulting from a 2013 ruling that stripped citizenship from Dominican children of Haitian migrant workers. 

Over  200,000 people were affected by the ruling, which the petition says, 

"Created the LARGEST POPULATION OF STATELESS PEOPLE IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE and left anyone of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic open to persecution and mass forced removals. Since June 17th, the U.S.-- Dominican Republic's #1 trade partner--has turned a blind eye to this human rights crisis- even as over 42,000 people now live in squalid tent camps alongs the Haitian border after being forced to flee their homes, lives, and families in the Dominican Republic. We urge the Administration to leverage its economic & political power to insist that the Dominican Republic restores full citizenships to Dominican Haitians and allow real due process for Haitian migrants to become regularized."

The ruling has been an utter disaster and makes a great case against Donald Trump's proposed policy to end birthright citizenship. CBS reports,

"Birthright citizenship comes from the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1868. It states: 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.' It gave citizenship to former slaves and overruled the Supreme Court, which said in Dred Scott v. Sandfordthat slaves were not U.S. citizens."

Trump's proposed policy would mean passing an amendment to change the Constitution so it's unlikely to go into effect. But the fact that in 2016 the Presidential candidates are wasting time discussing ways to discriminate against certain groups rather than proposing real solutions to immigration problems shows we still have a long way to go. 

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.

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