SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) – The Dominican Republic will begin construction of a fence along its 376-kilometer border with Haiti later this year to curb unauthorized migration and illegal trafficking, President Luis Abinader said on Saturday.

“In a period of two years we want to put an end to the serious problems of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and the movement of stolen vehicles,” Abinader said in a presentation to Congress.

Construction of the border fence, the cost of which has not been disclosed, is slated to begin in the second half of 2021, Abinader said.

The barrier will include a double fence in the “most conflicting” sections, as well as motion sensors, facial recognition cameras and infrared systems, he added, marking the country’s 177th anniversary of independence from Haiti.

According to government estimates, there were around 500,000 Haitian immigrants living in the Dominican Republic as of 2018, along with tens of thousands of their Caribbean-born children. A large part of the Haitian community, which makes up around 5% of the total population, does not have a residence permit.

The announcement came a month after the government agreed to assist Haiti in providing identification documents for citizens living on Dominican territory.

(Reporting by Ezequiel Abiu Lopez; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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