The Dominican Republic’s mass deportation plan, which calls for 10,000 Haitians to be expelled every week, comes amid deteriorating relations between the two countries.

The Dominican Republic says it has deported or repatriated nearly 11,000 Haitians in the past week. It's fulfilling a pledge to do so weekly as neighboring Haiti scrambles to handle the influx while besieged by poverty and gang violence.

Haiti's foreign minister on Monday blasted a policy announced last week by the neighboring Dominican Republic to deport tens of thousands of migrants back to Haiti, where gang violence is fueling a devastating humanitarian crisis.

Haiti will not stand by as Dominican authorities launch a brutal and discriminatory operation against our people because of the color of their skin.”

The Dominican Republic says it will start massive deportations of Haitians living illegally in the country and expel up to 10,000 of them a week.

Dominican officials said 7,591 Haitian immigrants were deported and 3,323 were repatriated between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7.