Haitian officials have arrested 10 U.S. missionaries over the week-end whom they claim were seeking to take 33 orphans out of the country. The Haitian government has charged the ‘kidnappers’ with child trafficking and they now face a court hearing.
According to officials, the missionaries, five of whom are members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Idaho, had gathered 100 Haitians children from the street and were on their way to the Dominican Republic.
The missionaries have said that it is a misunderstanding and that they were trying to help out a desperate situation in Haiti.
Meanwhile, Reverend Clint Henry, church pastor at Central Valley Baptist who appeared this morning on ABC’s Good Morning America said that he was not aware of the allegations that some of the children were not orphans.
Haiti’s Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive insists that they are kidnappers and says that his government takes this issue seriously.
Since Haiti’s killer quake on January 12th, over 500 children have left Haiti for the U.S., following the appropriate channels for adoption.
It is not clear yet when the court hearing will take place in Haiti.
