A Visa for Deguis Pierre

How do we consider the decision of the United States to grant a visa to an undocumented citizen, and at the same time, assign her a nationality that the “accepting” country does not recognize? The papers where the U.S. government stamped a visa for Mrs. Juliana Deguis Pierre, ascribe Dominican nationality to her, even though [Dominican] national institutions have not granted it.

The global power that the U.S. exercises leads its authorities to the conclusion that they can go so far as to grant nationalities on behalf of other countries. It should be easy because as a powerful nation, with the capacity to punish and attempt to isolate a country as important as Russia, what can’t they do with a Caribbean banana republic?

That pride also leads the U.S. to another conclusion: It can promote the dissolution of institutions in other countries, a practice that is nothing new in its history. What’s more, destabilization is one of its principles. For the backwater nation that we are, this would be nothing. Assigning a nationality that the Dominican Republic has not recognized means disregarding that nation’s authority.

That nation is the same one that uses its scant material resources and authorities to prevent illegal travel to American territory. If its national authorities behaved consistently with American actions, they would allow undocumented migrants, embarking on a pursuit of happiness, to travel freely, as Deguis intended to do with a “humanitarian visa,” without any other form of documentation.

In any case, the United States, very aware of the status of citizen Deguis Pierre, put on a farce to discredit the image of the Dominican Republic. Because since when has anyone traveled from any nation into American territory without legal documentation?

The statements of Minister of Interior and Police Ramón Fadul are very true: “Here we have rules, we have order; this is a state that although it has certain weaknesses and difficulties, it is sovereign in its institutions and with respect to laws and judicial legislation … “

The U.S. should behave seriously and respect the Dominican Republic.