Chapter 2 The Right to Nationality and Judgment TC/0168/13 of the Constitutional Court | 51 88. 89. These practices have also been exposed and disallowed in many judgments delivered by Dominican judges, who have recognized that these persons are entitled to Dominican nationality and have so ordered the JCE to give them their identification papers. 80 For example, the Civil Chamber of the National District Court of Appeals wrote the following: An alien’s irregular immigration status cannot be likened to the in-transit concept, as these are two entirely different conditions. Moreover, neither the regulations for enforcement of the Immigration Act, nor the 1999 report prepared by the [Inter-American] Commission [on Human Rights on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti] make legal status a requirement for the right to nationality in one’s place of birth […] More to the point, parents seeking to register their children cannot be deemed to be “in transit” when the documents in the case file show that they have been living in the country for years […] Furthermore, while it is true that the minor’s parents are living in the country in an irregular migratory situation, it is also true that their immigration status cannot adversely affect their minor offspring, who can claim Dominican nationality just by demonstrating that they were born on Dominican soil and that their parents are not performing any diplomatic function in the country and are not “in transit.” 81 For its part, the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of First Instance of San Pedro de Macorís has written that: The Central Electoral Board has violated such basic rights as the right to human dignity, the right to equality before the law and non-discrimination, the right to nationality, the right to identity, the right to recognition as a person before the law, the right to development of one’s personality, the rights to citizenship, work and education. […] In response to the hackneyed argument (which the defendant in this case is once again invoking) to the effect that children born of parents in an irregular migratory situation cannot be considered Dominicans “because an illegal action cannot have a legal effect,” then the person making this argument has to be asked whether “a child born of a woman in prison is also a prisoner, or if the child of a fugitive is born a fugitive from justice and the law.” 82 80 81 82 See, inter alia, Dominican Republic, Civil Chamber of the Court of Appeals of the National District, Ruling No. 453 of October 16, 2003; Third Courtroom of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the National District, Ruling No. 0366-08; Civil, Commercial and Labour Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the Monte Plata Judicial District, Ruling No. 06-2011; Court of First Instance of the Civil Chamber of San Pedro de Macorís, Civil Judgment No. 10-11; Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of First Instance of San Pedro de Macorís, Civil Judgment No. 259-12; Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the La Romana Judicial District, Ruling No. 226/2012, Magistrate Argenis García Del Rosario. Dominican Republic, Civil Chamber of the Court of Appeals of the National District, Ruling No. 453 of October 16, 2003. Judge Samuel Arias Arseno. Dominican Republic, Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of First Instance of San Pedro de Macorís, Civil Judgment No. 259-12. Judge Luis Alberto Adames Mejía. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR