The man in the front of the line used to have fingerprints. Then he laid so many bricks they wore down and started to disappear. His name is Luccene Philome. He is a hard worker. Philome came to the Dominican Republic from Haiti. He did not get permission before he came, but now he wants to become a citizen of the Dominican Republic. That way he can work without breaking the law.

Philome waited all night outside the Ministry of the Interior (where people go to get citizenship). He wanted to be at the beginning of the morning line. But in the morning, officers told him to go away. He has no birth certificate. He has no identity card. He has no passport. The Haitian government charges money for those documents. The cost is far more than a humble brick-layer can pay. The officers also demand fingerprints. Philome barely has even those!

About 80,000 other Haitians tried to become citizens of the Dominican Republic—in just one month. Less than 300 of them had the documents they needed. When they grew angry and protested, the Haitian government promised to lower the price for identity papers.

Philome and others like him want citizenship very much. Why? They want the right to work. They want the right to learn. Only citizens have those rights. Without citizenship, they could be forced to live without a job. How would they feed their families? They could be forbidden from going to school. How would they get an education that would help them get good jobs? They could even get sent back to Haiti.

Philome is still trying to get his identity papers from Haiti. It is very hard, but becoming a citizen is worth it.