Once he assumed the presidency, Trujillo took some of his most loyal men and created a small military force called the Servicio de Inteligencia Militar, or SIM. Their job was to control the public and eliminate any opposition, no matter how great. One of the largest jobs SIM had to perform was the Parsley Massacre of 1937. A year after a political compromise between the two nations, thousands of Haitians illegally immigrated to the Dominican Republic. Many Dominicans complained about the exponential growth of border settlements, which hindered trade. Trujillo responded: “We have already begun to remedy the situation. Three hundred Haitians have now died in [the city of] Bánica. This remedy will continue." Trujillo had ordered his men to get rid of the Haitians occupying the borderlands. About 20,000 Haitians and some black Dominicans were killed. If you couldn't pronounce "perejil" or parsley with the roll of the "r", it meant you spoke French and as a Haitian you were killed. Women and children were killed as mercilessly as the men with bayonets, machetes and rifles. Dominicans who tried to help were also killed. The bodies were thrown into a body of water that runs between the two countries, as if to send a message. The SIM was so effective that in just five days a horrific genocide occurred. It was an event that tarnished the Haitian-Dominican relationship