Dominican Republic says 24,000 affected by controversial ruling on migrant kids' citizenship

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The Dominican Republic has announced that more than 24,000 people born there to foreigners have not been properly registered, meaning they could lose their citizenship as a result of a recent Constitutional Court decision.

Electoral Council President Roberto Rosario said Thursday that the government's statistics show human rights groups erred when estimating that some 200,000 people would be affected by the court decision.

But human rights activists say thousands of people who have been denied access to the civil registry will still be affected.

The Electoral Council now has one year to review in detail each of those 24,392 cases. Officials have not yet set a deadline for those affected to prove their citizenship, which human rights activists have long argued has become increasingly difficult.