All of the interviews were completed respecting the health protocols in place at the time. Pseudonyms are used in this research brief to protect the confidentiality of interviewees, in accordance with agreed consent protocols. In addition to the interviews, two focus groups were held: one with 8 mothers of children without civil registration who run the risk of remaining stateless; and the other one with 8 promoters and staff from the Center for Sustainable Development (CEDESO, in Spanish), a civil society organization based in Tamayo, Bahoruco, which has been providing orientation, humanitarian assistance, and legal assistance to the population since 2002. regularize foreigners, on the one hand, and naturalize their descendants, on the other, which unfortunately have not produced the expected results nor sustainable solutions over time. The inclusion of Haitianborn migrants in the study was a strategic decision given the relationship between historical and contemporary migration and the risk of statelessness and resulting social exclusion of their descendants born in country. Various stakeholders were interviewed in the Enriquillo sub-region as well as in Santo Domingo, including representatives of the local civil registry offices, hospitals and the Haitian consulate; international organizations, notably the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR); as well as professionals who work with organizations that defend the human rights of migrants in other parts of the country. Like any study, this one has its limitations. It is based on a relatively small sample of interviews conducted at a point in time within a rapidly evolving political and epidemiological context. There had recently been a change in the central government after 16 years of rule by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD, in Spanish). The administration of President Luis Abinader of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM, in Spanish) was inaugurated on August 16, 2020, a change that was still taking effect in terms of personnel rotation in public institutions. Though akin to a photograph taken at one point in time, the analysis turns it into an X-ray of what happens when a population that has been systematically excluded from society suffers the multiple shocks of a global pandemic. The brief focuses mainly on the population that is descendant from migrants who remain stateless. Statelessness persists, despite the efforts in 2014-2015 to The findings of the study and the ensuing recommendations were validated in a workshop in Tamayo in May 2021, in which key regional actors participated. 14 Research Brief: COVID-19 Impacts on Haitian Migrants and their Descendants on the Southern Border of the D.R.