Ten Americans were held this weekend in Haiti and have been accused of child trafficking. The Americans attempted to take 33 children to the Dominican Republic, and they said they were taking the children to a shelter. At least 10 of the children they tried to take had a living parent, and many of the children told the adults that their parents were alive.
The Americans were a Baptist group from Idaho and they insist that they were trying to get the children to a shelter in the Dominican Republic. Sunday, Haiti's prime minister said the missionary group attempted to kidnap the children.
"The children certainly were not fully willing to go, because in some cases, from what I heard, they were asking for their parents, they wanted to return to their parents," Jean-Max Bellerive, Haiti’s prime minister told CNN.
The Americans are being held near the Port-au-Prince airport and were allowed out of their jail briefly on Sunday to speak to CNN.
"We came into Haiti to help those that really had no other source of help," Laura Silsby said. She is a member of New Life Children's Refuge in Idaho. "We are trusting the truth will be revealed and we are praying for that."
The group of Americans consists of five men and five women has been charged with child trafficking. The group did not have any paperwork for the children as they attempted to take them out of the country.
The U.S. Embassy stated that they are being held for "alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration."
The American group acknowledged that this children did not have passports, and they said that they didn’t realize it would be a problem.
The Haitian government requires approval for any Haitian children to leave the country. See the video below for interviews with the Americans and the Haitian government.
An eye doctor from Utah, Dr. Branson Call returned Monday from Haiti after an annual trip to help the people of Haiti. Dr. Call was in Haiti when the earthquake struck and amazingly survived, even though 30 medical students in the building next door all died. For several days he was unable to contact his family or friends because there wasn’t phone service or internet. His family wasn’t even sure he was alive. He spent several days trying to help the wounded before getting onto a plane to the Dominic Republic and contacting his family, according to ABC 4.
The Salt Lake City based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has responded and said that no missionaries from the US are in Haiti, but that an immediate relief project has begun to provide aid. In Haiti, the Caribbean Area Presidency of the LDS Church also provided immediate relief to the people there. To donate to the LDS Church aid for Haiti, go to LDS.org. For more information on how the LDS Church is helping in Haiti, click here. For more ways to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti, click here. For stories of incredible survival in Haiti, see the articles on the left.
To see a slideshow of the earthquake disaster photos in Haiti, click here.
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