55 expelling aliens from their territory, and in general, to establish their immigration policy, exercising these prerogatives requires of the States that the policies, laws and practices they implement in the area of immigration respect and guarantee the human rights of all immigrant persons, which are rights and freedoms they have by virtue of the human dignity and that the States have recognized in the human 241 rights treaties they have signed. 261. The Commission recalls that when immigration laws are enforced, the fundamental right to equal protection by the law and non-discrimination require that a State’s policies and practices not unfairly target certain individuals based solely on their ethnic or racial characteristics, such as skin color, 242 accent, ethnic origin or area known to be home to a particular ethnic population. Referring specifically to the Dominican Republic, the Inter-American Commission wrote that [around 2000] there was a climate of racism, racial discrimination and anti-Haitian practices in the Dominican Republic. Against that backdrop, Haitian immigrants have been the victims of a whole array of abuses by the authorities, from assassinations, abusive treatment, massive expulsions, exploitation, and deplorable living conditions”. […] Finally, the Commission took as fact that the Dominican authorities conducted the expulsions of Haitians or persons of Haitian origin with violence and in haste, without affording them any judicial guarantees, without giving them the opportunity to prove that they were legal residents in the country and without giving them equal 243 access to effective remedies. 262. The Commission has defined the practice of “racial profiling” or establishment of racial profiles as a “repressive tactic […] adopted for supposed reasons of public safety and protection and is motivated by stereotypes based on race, color, ethnicity, language, descent, religion, nationality, place of 244 birth, or a combination of these factors, rather than on objective suspicions”, and deemed that this practice was a violation of the principle of equal protection recognized in Article 24 of the American 245 Convention. 263. The United Nations Human Rights Committee held that identity checks carried out for public security or crime prevention purposes in general, or to control illegal immigration, serve a legitimate purpose. However, when the authorities carry out such checks, the physical or ethnic characteristics of the persons subjected thereto should not by themselves be deemed indicative of their possible illegal presence in the country. Nor should they be carried out in such a way as to target only persons with specific physical or ethnic characteristics. The Committee added that “to act otherwise would not only negatively affect the dignity of the persons concerned, but would also contribute to the spread of 241 See, in general, IACHR, Annual Report 1991, Chapter V, Situation of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.81 Doc. 6 rev. 1, February 14, 1992; IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights of Asylum Seekers within the Canadian Refugee Determination System. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.106 Doc.40 rev., February 28, 2000, paragraph 166; IACHR, Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2000: Second Progress Report of the Special Rapporteurship on Migrant Workers and Their Families in the Hemisphere. OEA/Ser./L/V/II.111 doc. 20 rev., April 16, 2000, paragraph 6; IACHR, Report on Terrorism and Human Rights. OEA/Ser.L/V/ll.116 Doc. 5 rev. 1 corr., October 22, 2002, paragraph 377; IACHR, Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process. OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 78/10, December 30, 2010, paragraph 32; IACHR, Application filed with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case No. 12.688, Nadege Dorzema et al.: Guayubín Massacre (Dominican Republic). February 11, 2011, paragraph 208. See also in this regard, I/A Court H.R., Case of Vélez Loor v. Panama. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 23, 2010. Series C No. 218, paragraphs 97 and 169. 242 IACHR, Application filed with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case No. 12.688, Nadege Dorzema et al.: Guayubín Massacre (Dominican Republic). February 11, 2011, paragraph 205. 243 IACHR, Application filed with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case No. 12,688, Nadege Dorzema et al.: Guayubín Massacre (Dominican Republic), February 11, 2011, paragraph 203, citing 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 317. See also, Human Rights Watch, “Illegal People: Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic,” Vol. 14, No. 1(B), April 2002. 244 IACHR, Report No. 26/09 (Admissibility and Merits), Case No. 12.440, Wallace de Almeida (Brazil), March 20, 2009, paragraph 143. 245 IACHR, Report No. 26/09 (Admissibility and Merits), Case No. 12.440, Wallace de Almeida (Brazil), March 20, 2009, paragraph 152.