DOMINICAN authorities have expelled at least 1,800 unaccompanied Haitian migrant children this year, sending them back to their crisis-stricken country, Unicef said on Wednesday.

This comes as the Dominican Republic intensified its crackdown on migration from Haiti in the aftermath of a cholera outbreak and continued gang violence that has beset their island neighbour.

The crackdown has provoked harsh criticism by international observers, including the United States, which have accused the country of mass deportations, racist treatment of migrants and detentions of Haitians in facilities with poor conditions.

But Venancio Alcantara, director of the Dominican Republic’s migration authority, denied the claims, saying the agency follows specific procedures with child migrants and that “minors are with their parents at all times.”