The Dominican Republic government, led by President Danilo Medina Sánchez, hired the services of advocacy law firm Steptoe & Johnson, LLP–where former Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño Burset works–to defend the image and immigration law of the Caribbean nation before the United States.

Their contract does not have an expiration date, so the Dominican government will need to revise the fees for the law firm on a yearly basis to make the necessary adjustments. For example, from January to August of 2014, the firm collected $820,543,000 (which equals approximately $36 million Dominican pesos) for their services.

Their responsibilities include managing relations with US legislators, political parties, and government cabinet members, and representing the Dominican Republic at an international level.

The firm, which is based in Washington DC, is also tasked with monitoring the international media, articles, and press releases, and bolstering the publicationsof opinion pieces in US newspapers and magazines to improve the perception of the Dominican government abroad.

The aforementioned law, which was passed by Medina Sánchez’s administration in 2014, stemmed from a ruling issued by the Dominican Republic Constitutional Court decreeing that children of undocumented foreigners could not keep their Dominican citizenship.

This decision affected Dominicans of Haitian descent primarily, since 95% of immigrants in the nation are of Haitian origin.

According to the National Immigrant Survey conducted in the Dominican Republic in 2012, approximately 244,151 people descended from immigrants.

‘Statistics show how serious the problem is with the collective expulsions of Haitians from the Dominican territory. But beyond that, several reports have been published in the last few years, as well as testimonies from victims and their families, evidencing that there is a public policy to deport Haitian immigrants or people believed to be such, regardless of their migratory status. And this practice has only grown worse in the last few years,’ denounced the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which has been overseeing the issue.

The agreement was signed by the Minister Administrative of the Presidency in the Dominican Republic, José Ramón Peralta Fernández, on December 26, 2013, amidst the government transition between Fortuño Burset and Alejandro García Padilla.

In fact, shortly after he was defeated in his bid to a second term as governor, it came to light that Fortuño Burset would be joining Steptoe <><>& Johnson, LLP, and that, under his administration in 2012, the Government Development Bank was one of the law firm’s main clients./p

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The talking points distributed by Steptoe <><><><><><> Johnson throughout offices in Congress and the US Executive Branch include:/p

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‘The Dominican Republic is implementing a modern and transparent policy to register national and immigrant residents, respecting the contribution each person makes to Dominican society, while providing clarity to an outdated system.’/p

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‘The objective of this policy is to guarantee a legal status for every person living in Dominican territory, so as to protect their fundamental rights. This new policy will also improve the Dominican Republic’s ability to fight human trafficking and guarantee territorial integrity.’/p

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Aside from the former governor—whose hourly fee is over $1,162—, Steptoe <><><><> Johnson also brings the services of Filiberto Agusti, José Ramón González-Magaz, and Ricardo Pellerano. According to the 2014 document, they used to bill $1,211, $1,056, and $486 per hour, respectively./p

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The agreement—which has been analyzed in social media by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and other local groups—is based on the ‘extensive technical and specialized expertise in international consulting in the fields of government relations, lobbying, and crisis management, amongst others.’/p

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In 2015, the US Justice Department received an outline of disbursements and tasks from Steptoe <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Johnson, in compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA), as amended. In the document, it is worth noting that the firm spent $42,993.41 within six months to hire Haitian lawyers and cover courier services, travel expenses, and others./p

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The aforementioned ‘law that establishes a special regime for people born in national territory and registered illegally in the Dominican civil and naturalization registry’ divides people in two groups, based on their migratory status./p

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The first group corresponded to the descendants of foreigners who had been inscribed in the Dominican civil registry, and whose Dominican citizenship is acknowledged by the law passed by Medina. This means that, on a case-by-case scenario, they should receive their citizen identification documents./p

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Meanwhile, the second group comprises the descendants of foreigners who have never been inscribed in the civil registry but have lived in the Dominican Republic their entire lives. In such cases, the law grants them 90 days to register as foreigners, with the possibility of being naturalized as Dominican citizens within two years./p

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After this grace period, the international media reported that 40,000 people had been deported to Haiti, and that although it had been done ‘voluntarily’, it had been driven by fear./p

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Aside from his responsibilities as a lawyer, Fortuño Burset is also part of the Equality Commission, recently established through Act 30-2017 by Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares to lobby in Washington for Puerto Rico’s statehood./p

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He has also been part of the Board of Directors of the Republican State Leadership Committee since 2013, as well as member of the American Action Network, the Congressional Leadership Fund, and The American Conservative Union. Since 2016, he has also been part of the International Republican Institute Advisory Council./p

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By press time, Fortuño’s PR had not answered our requests for a statement./p