The following originally appeared in the Miami Herald. James A.
Goldston is executive director, and Indira Goris a program
officer, at the Open Society Justice Initiative. Imagine you are
born in a country where you don't legally exist. The authorities
refuse to issue you a birth certificate or an identity document.
As a result, you are barred from school. Your family cannot
receive public benefits to which other families with children
are entitled. You are not recognized as a citizen, even though
your family has lived in the country for generations. You and
your parents live in constant fear that you may be deported. But
to where? The country of your birth is the only country you have
ever known. Haitians Treated Differently Such is the reality for
thousands of children of Haitian descent—and many of their
parents—living in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican
Constitution, like that of the United States, grants citizenship
to everyone born on the territory. But this provision is
systematically denied to et