18 45 84. At around 1:00 p.m. on November 2, 1999 or November 3, 2000, Mr. Fils-Aime was arrested by Army troops as he was walking home from the market. He was forced to board a public transportation bus that was carrying Haitians and persons of Haitian descent and was headed for Pedernales prison, where it arrived at around 8:00 p.m. There he was able to speak with Maribel Mella, Director of the Immigration Department for the region. Later, the Dominican soldiers took him and other 46 persons to the border, where they were forced to cross the border into Haiti. 85. At approximately 11:00 p.m. that same day, immigration officers, one known as “Guelo”, came to the home of the Fils-Aime family in La Mercedes, the Dominican Republic, and told Janise Midi that she would have to go with them to sign certain papers. She was told not to worry about her belongings, because they would be coming home soon. However, the immigration officers forced Ms. Midi and her children to board a truck bound for the Perdenales/ Anse-à-Pitre border crossing, where they forced them to cross into Haiti by way of a gully that was a river bed. The Fils-Aime family did not have access to a bathroom and were not given food or water. Later, Ms. Midi and her children headed for 47 Jacmel, Haiti, where they met up with Mr. Fils-Aime 8 days later. Because of the manner of their expulsion, the Fils-Aime family lost all their personal belongings, which included two beds, eight chairs, 48 their clothing, nineteen pigs, a burro, a goat, numerous chickens and the land that they cultivated. 86. In March 2002, the members of the Fils-Aime family obtained safe-conducts as a result of the agreement reached as the provisional measures were being worked out with the Inter-American 49 50 Court. Mr. Fils-Aime’s document was destroyed in 2005 when he presented it to Dominican officials. 51 He died in 2010 from a respiratory illness. 87. With regard to Mr. Jeanty Fils-Aime, the State maintained that “in the community of Las Mercedes de Pedernales, Mr. Emilio Mancebo (a) Milito, a resident of that community, told us that Mr. FANTY [FILS AIME] is Haitian; that he was born in Haiti of Haitian parents and was married to a Haitian woman. They all live in Haiti, specifically in An-San-Pitre. All this was corroborated by Mr. Marino Pérez 52 Mancebo (a) Cigua.” The information supplied by the State is based solely on the statements made by residents of Las Mercedes de Pedernales. The State provided no official documentation. 4. Berson Gelin 45 Annex 20. Sworn statement given by Janise Midi in the presence of the Human Rights Clinic of Columbia University School of Law on January 13, 2001. Attachment to the representatives’ observations of January 30, 2002. Annex AJ of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 46 Annex 19. Sworn statement given by Jeanty Fils-Aime in the presence of the Human Rights Clinic of Columbia University School of Law, April 1, 2000. Attachment to the representatives’ observations of January 30, 2002. See also Annex 21. List of persons deported who had lived in the Dominican Republic for over 10 years, November 6 to 11, 1999, Case No. 38. Attachment to the report the petitioners filed on March 28, 2000. 47 Annex 20. Sworn statement given by Janise Midi in the presence of the Human Rights Clinic of Columbia University School of Law on January 13, 2001. Attachment to the representatives’ observations of January 30, 2002. Annex AJ of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 48 Annex 19. Sworn statement given by Jeanty Fils-Aime in the presence of the Human Rights Clinic of Columbia University School of Law on April 1, 2000. Attachment to the representatives’ observations of January 30, 2002. 49 Annex 22. Annex AL to the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 50 Annex 23. The representatives’ observations on the XLVIII and XLIX reports filed by the Dominican State in connection with compliance with the provisional measures ordered by the I/A Court H.R. in the Matter of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian Origin in the Dominican Republic, October 25, November 4 and December 16, 2005. 51 Annex 11. The representatives’ observations on the State’s XLVIII report on the provisional measures ordered by the I/A Court H.R. in the Matter of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian Origin in the Dominican Republic, December 16, 2010. 52 Annex 6. Report of the Secretariat of State of the Interior and Police. Office of the Director General for Immigration. July 19, 2000, attachment to the brief submitted by the State on August 8, 2000.