Banana Link, a U.K.-based nonprofit advocating for fair and sustainable banana and pineapple trade, has joined the Dominican banana industry's private and public leaders in calling for urgent action to regularize migrant workers in the country's banana sector. 

The call comes after the government decree to deport 10,000 undocumented Haitian migrants per week, a move that could jeopardize the banana industry, which consists of around 80% of Haitian workers. 

In a joint letter, Banana Link, alongside the Dominican Republic's National Banana and Agricultural Workers Union (SINTRAPBAA), the national trade union confederation CASC, migrants' rights organization Fundación Étnica Integral (La FEI), and the Banana Producers and Exporters Association of Montecristi (ASEXBAM), is asking for specific measures to protect the Dominican banana industry and defend the human rights of Haitian workers.

The letter asks for the government to "renew expired migration documents for Haitian workers, review the status of current migrants detained, ensure that those who comply with regulations are not deported, and establish a streamlined regularization program that allows Haitian workers to continue their labor without fear of deportation." 

It's estimated that more than 70,000 direct jobs are at risk and Dominican exports to the UK – its second biggest market – have fallen from $120 million to just $67 million since 2016, while market share has more than halved in the same period. A similar decline has occurred in other European markets.

The mass detention of Haitian workers has created a climate of fear in the plantations, threatening not only the stability of the sector but also the country's ability to meet its export commitments and is also under fire from humanitarian organizations such as Amnesty International due to concerns about racial profiling and the need to protect children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.