26 information reported by the State confirms that by the end of the 1990s, 700 Haitian citizens were being 107 deported each month. 127. In 1991, the Commission conducted an in loco visit to the Dominican Republic and received numerous complaints about the violence and haste with which the deportations were being conducted; migrant workers were not allowed to take their belongings or collect their pay. Some businesses, especially the sugar mills, were using deportation as a way to avoid paying their workers the 108 salaries they were owed. 128. According to the complaints the Commission received, deportees were held in establishments where they received little or no food while in custody; in some cases, they were beaten by the Dominican authorities. They were never allowed to contact family members to notify them that they were being deported. Time and time again, the Commission was told of children being forcibly removed from their homes while their parents were at work. Wives were deported while husbands were not at home. In some cases, the massive expulsions allegedly had the effect of forcibly separating families, 109 affecting the children. 129. Similarly, on the occasion of the 1996 presidential elections, the Commission received a number of complaints to the effect that the Dominican authorities had conducted sweeps, destroying identification documents and the identity papers of Haitian workers and had forced them to return to Haiti. In numerous reported cases, the persons expelled had been born in the Dominican Republic, had lived 110 there for many years and had a constitutional right to Dominican nationality. 130. In June 1997, the Commission made a second in loco visit to the Dominican Republic. During that visit, it received multiple complaints concerning the practice of collective expulsions of Haitians and even of Dominicans of Haitian origin. According to the information supplied to the Commission, between January and February of that year the Dominican Government had deported around 25,000 Haitians. In most of these cases, the deportees had been denied the opportunity to prove …continuation merits, April 16, 2009. Annex 48. Human Rights Watch: Illegal People: Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic, April 4, 1992. Annex I of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 103 Annex 49. TAMAYO, Juan. A Dominican crackdown in illegal immigration keeps desperate Haitians out, expels thousands already in. Miami Herald. February (2000), p. 1-3. Annex J of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. See also, Annex 50. Infohaití. Plus de 3000 haïtiens déportés de la République Dominicanaine vers Haiti pendants ces deux derniers semaines. Annex K of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009; Annex 51. UNHCR and HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. Illegal people: Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic. April (2002), p. 12. Annex I of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 104 Annex 51. UNHCR and Human Rights Watch. Illegal people: Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Abril (2002), p. 15-16. Annex I of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. See also, Annex 52. Periódico Hoy: Repatrían Haitianos ilegales con énfasis en pedigüeños. January (2001) Dominican Republic. Annex L of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 105 Annex 53. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. Dominican Republic: A life in transit – The Plight of Haitian Migrants and Dominicans of Haitian Descent. March (2007), London, p. 15.. Annex F of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 106 Annex 54. Agencia de Información Fray Tito para América Latina. Más de 1.600 haitianos fueron deportados de República Dominicana sólo éste año [More than 1600 Haitians deported from the Dominican Republic this year alone]. Haiti, May (2008). Annex R of the petitioners’ observations on the merits, April 16, 2009. 107 Annex 6. The State’s August 8, 2000 response to the IACHR. The statistics from the Office of the Director General of Immigration for June 2000 show that an average of 717 undocumented persons were repatriated each month. 108 IACHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the Dominican Republic, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.104, Doc 49, rev. 1, October 7, 1999, paragraph 327. 109 IACHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the Dominican Republic, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.104, Doc 49, rev. 1, October 7, 1999, paragraph 328. 110 IACHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the Dominican Republic, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.104, Doc 49, rev. 1, October 7, 1999, paragraph 329.