7 c) the Dominican Republic is obliged to maintain a permanent return and expulsion policy, but it is necessary to point out that the number of persons repatriated does not compensate even remotely for the number of persons who come into the country illegally. The acceptance of this request would be like tying the hands of a State that has been trying for four years to make headway in the field of human rights and concerning its immigration problem; d) the problem of Haiti is a problem of the international community and, above all, of the richest countries; the Dominican Republic has great economic limitations, great levels of poverty, and it is unable to bear on its shoulders, by itself, the circumstances of the economic, social, environmental, political, institutional and security reality of the Haitian people; and e) it is necessary to identify the persons on whose behalf provisional measures are being requested; however, the Dominican Republic is in the best disposition to study any individual case where the violation of rights is alleged, in order to correct any abuse which may have been committed, and to take measures in the same context where it advances towards an improvement of the repatriation mechanisms. 13. The statements delivered by the witnesses during the cited public hearing, which are summarized below: a) Testimony of Father Pedro Ruquoy, a Catholic priest and a member of a missionary religious organization in the Dominican Republic. He deposed on the process of forced repatriations in the Dominican Republic. Said process is very quickly implemented. In most cases the persons are conducted to the border on buses without being able to communicate with their relatives, without warning, without being able to carry their belongings, and without the possibility to appear before some competent authority to prove their immigration status. The criteria used to select the persons who will be expelled are skin color and the way they talk. Furthermore, some of the persons expelled are Dominicans who have their national identification cards, but who are told that said identification cards are false. The alleged victims live in constant fear; sometimes the repatriations are carried out at night and the persons are subject to abuse, including the women. On one occasion he reported on this to the President of the Republic, but received no reply. He indicated that, since he lives in the border area, he is visited every day by an average of 12 expelled persons who wish to return to their homes. Lastly, he said that he understood and supported each country’s right to repatriate persons who are illegally in its territory, but that he did not agree to the manner in which the Dominican Republic treated these persons at the time of repatriation. b) Testimony of Ms. Solange Pierre, a social worker and Director of the Dominican-Haitian Women’s Movement She deposed on the process of forced repatriations in the Dominican Republic. Armed military personnel enter violently into the homes of persons and take them directly to Haiti. Said expulsions separate the families, cause trauma and grave consequences among the population in general, especially the women and children. Furthermore, many of the expelled persons have been in the Dominican Republic for 20-30 years, and have broken their ties with Haiti; many do not speak the language, do not have Haitian customs, and when they arrive in Haiti they find themselves in a totally unknown place. There are cases of rape in the context of the expulsions. She