7 a) Testimony of Father Pedro Ruquoy, Catholic priest, member of a missionary religious community in the Dominican Republic. He declared about the process of forced repatriations in the Dominican Republic. Said process takes place very rapidly. In most cases, people are taken to the border on buses, without being able to get in touch with their families, without previous notice, without being able to bring their belongings and appear before a competent authority to prove their status. The criterion used in selecting people to be expelled is their skin color and their way of speaking. Additionally, some of the expelled persons are Dominicans with their citizen's ID, although they are told these ID's are fake. The alleged victims live in constant fear; sometimes, repatriations are conducted at night and people are subject to abuse, including women. On one occasion, he reported these situations in writing to the President of the Dominican Republic, but he did not get any answer. He held that, since he lives in the border area, every day he is visited by an average of 12 expelled persons who want to return to their home. Finally, he affirmed he understands and supports the fact that every country has the right to repatriate people who are illegally in their territory, but he does not agree with the way the Dominican Republic is treating these people upon repatriation. b) Testimony of Ms. Solange Pierre, social worker, Director of the Dominican-Haitian Women's Movement. She declared about the process of forced repatriations in the Dominican Republic. Armed military violently enter the homes of people and take them directly to Haiti. Said expulsions separate families, create traumas and serious consequences in the general population, particularly women and children. Moreover, many of the expelled persons have been living 20-30 years in the Dominican Republic and have already lost their ties to 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 expulsions. She works with approximately seven communities or "bateys", small communities lacking power, water, and basic services. She said expulsions occur without warning. She stated there are legislators and Government people who have demanded, on the media, that she be arrested, investigated, and expelled, and also her children and family have been terrorized. Finally, she added that the expulsion practice continues to date. 14. The brief submitted by the Dominican Republic, at the conclusion of the public hearing before the Court, and its Attachments, through which it claimed that a) the Commission rushed in its petition for provisional measures because it did not wait for the State's answer nor used the means and mechanisms it had available to verify the petitioners' complaint; b) the deportation of foreign nationals staying illegally in Dominican territory is a "non-negotiable right of the Dominican State that can not be waived because it is one of the fundamental attributes of its sovereignty", recognized in its legal system, which does not violate any treaty or convention the State has signed or ratified;