VERON, Dominican Republic — As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, the Dominican Republic will hold elections Sunday that have been defined by calls for more crackdowns on migrants and finishing a border wall dividing the countries.
Politics in the two Caribbean nations sharing the island of Hispaniola have long been intertwined. Haiti's spiral into chaos in recent years has coincided with a harsh crackdown by its Dominican neighbor.
President Luis Abinader, a clear frontrunner race as he seeks reelection in the presidential race, has begun to build a Trump-like border wall along Haiti's border and carried out mass deportations of 175,000 Haitians just last year. Dominicans also will be choosing members of Congress.
''We will continue to deport everyone who is illegal from any country,'' Abinader said in a debate in late April. ''A society that doesn't do that is chaos and anarchy.''
Abinader, who has also pledged to strengthen the nation's economy, said he would finish construction of the border wall with Haiti. His closest competitors – former President Leonel Fernández and Santiago Mayor Abel Martínez – have echoed his calls to ramp up the actions against migration.
The crackdown has marked an intensification of longtime policies by the Dominican government that human rights groups have alleged are discriminatory and put vulnerable people at risk.
Fernández, of the People's Force party, said Dominicans were ''afraid to go out into the streets" despite Abinader's policies. He also said he would continue crackdowns while respecting human rights.
Dominican voters seem to be rewarding Abinader for the crackdown, with the incumbent favored to get more than the 50% support needed to win in the first round of voting. If no candidate reaches the 50% mark a runoff between the top vote-getters would be held.