This is leaving me with a very bad taste in my mouth. The US is spending hundreds of millions of bucks we don't have to try to help these people, volunteers from the US are taking big risks to help, then they turn around and throw some well-meaning missonaries in jail on obviously trumped up charges? How can it be kidnapping if the parents consented? Why hasn't the US government demanded their release? ******************************************* Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Ten Americans who were detained last week while trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country were charged Thursday with kidnapping children and criminal association, a government official said. Information Minister Marie Laurence Lassegue's announcement came shortly after the five men and five women left a hearing at the prosecutor's office. Under Haitian law, anyone accused of kidnapping a child is not eligible for bail. The Americans -- members of a church group -- got into two vehicles, which were driven back to the jail where they have been held since they were taken into custody. Appearing solemn, they did not respond to questions from reporters. A few sang hymns. The Americans were turned back Friday as they tried to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic without proper documentation. They said they were going to house them in a converted hotel in that country and later move them to an orphanage they were building there. "We can confirm that the 10 American citizens remain in custody in Haiti," said State Department deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid. "We continue to provide appropriate consular assistance and to monitor developments in the legal case." The Americans have said they were just trying to help the children leave the earthquake-stricken country. Some of the detained Americans have said they thought they were helping orphans, but their interpreters said Wednesday that they were present when group members spoke with the children's parents. Some parents in a village outside Port-au-Prince said they had willingly given their children over to the Americans, who promised them a better life and who said they could see their children whenever they wanted to. Government approval is needed for any Haitian child to leave the country, and the group acknowledged that the children had no passports. Some members of the group belong to the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho. P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, has said that U.S. officials have been given unlimited consular access to the Americans and that U.S. and Haitian authorities are "working to try to ascertain what happened [and] the motive behind these people. "Clearly, there are questions about procedure as to whether they had the appropriate paperwork to move the children," he said Wednesday. CNN's Karl Penhaul contributed to this report.
Don't know the particulars, but other nation's borders are tightly guarded, unlike the USA. Sounds like someone messed up.
Taking children across the border without clearance from the Haiti government or the US State department. Are these "baptist" just incompetent or is there criminal intent here. I'm with you aaa leaves a very bad taste in my mouth too. How would this story be received if some religous group came to America and smuggled children out of the country and the group said it's OK because they had the parents permission?
Hi AAA, I always knew it is only a matter of time before the Haitians pissed you off by exercising their sovereignty. I always knew that your comeback would involve nothing but bragging about how your pity feelings toward these sub humans will only result in them biting the hand that fed it. With all due respect AAA, you sum the attitude of NEO conservatives like you in one word, a âNarcissist.â In my opinion, the fact that the Haitian legal system is right or wrong (I think they were wrong) in charging these women is irrelevant in me donating money, or supporting the donation of money to the Haitians people. To you, your live saving donation is always tied to how any recipient willingness in going down on his knee to kiss your shoes. I do not know you AAA, but I know your mind set. The tragic part, this thread wouldâve not started had that tragic disaster took place in Switzerland, for example, and had the Swiss legal system decided to charge these well intending women, Regards, Sameeh
Reminds me of a bible story. The Pharisees would have rather let someone remain maimed than be healed on the wrong day. The Haitians would rather let kids die than be let out of the country w/o the right paperwork.
"The Americans apparently enlisted a clergyman who went knocking on doors asking people if they wanted to give away their children, the director of Haiti's social welfare agency, Jeanne Bernard Pierre, told The Associated Press." "It is clear now that they were trying to cross the border without papers. It is clear now that some of the children have live parents. And it is clear now that they knew what they were doing was wrong," Bellerive told the AP. At the SOS Children's Village orphanage where authorities are protecting the 33 children, regional director Patricia Vargas said none who are old enough and willing to talk had said they were orphans: "Up until now we have not encountered any who say they are an orphan." the above was from Haitian judge questions Americans about children By Frank Bajak | ASSOCIATED PRESS More bad taste in your mouth aaa ?
I guess some of the hate-America/hate-Christians crowd here can't see the irony of a failed state that has no functioning government and is totally incapable of dealing with a devastating disaster suddenly becoming hyper-legal about travel documents. Certainly they couldn't care less about documents for the flood of illegal Haitian immigrants who wash up in florida every day. I think these missionaries thought that the normal rules would be relaxed in such an emergency, just as people are saying it was wrong to call people taking food from grocery stores looters. If, as alleged, they asked parents for their children, then it certainly isn't kidnapping. At worst, it is an attempt to leave the country without proper documents. In most places that is never prosecuted. They just refuse to let you leave. If there is any evidence whatsoever that these missionaries had nefarious purposes, I would be the first urging they be prosecuted, but no one has alleged any such thing. What I suspect is at issue is someone wanted a bribe and didn't get it, so suddenly there is this exaggerated concern "for the children." The kidnap victims here are the missionaries, who are US citizens. Apparently that means nothing to the State Department, which is busy trying to invent excuses for the Haitians, which in turn will give it an excuse for not doing anything. The US has every right to intervene and demand the release of its citizens.
I think these people were completely wrong. You can't just go taking children without going through the proper channels. Emergency situations don't give anybody the right to go nuts and start snatching kids like they were puppies. Thats just crazy. These are children we're talking about, not a fucking dog. As far as I'm concerned they deserve everything they get.