Idaho volunteers arrested in Haiti
Idaho volunteers arrested in Haiti
www.idahostatesman.com
Church group was trying to rescue children from a collapsed orphanage, a member said.
BY SANDRA FORESTER - sforester@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2010 Idaho Statesman
Published: 01/31/10
Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents.
Sean Lankford said his wife and daughter were among 10 Americans detained Saturday at the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic as they were moving 33 orphans to new housing.
Lankford said the Idahoans had been planning an orphanage in the Dominican Republic for several years, and they were ready to build when the earthquake hit. Members quickly arranged to help a pastor whose orphanage in Haiti collapsed, Lankford said.
"They've been working with governments on bothsides for a while," he said.
The Idahoans from Meridian's Central Valley Baptist Church and from East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls are with Idaho-based New Life Children's Refuge. The detainees include people from Texas and Kansas.
Despite their good intentions, the Americans - the first known to be taken into Haitian custody since the Jan. 12 quake - stepped into a firestorm in Haiti, where leaders have suspended adoptions amid fears that lost or parentless children are vulnerable to trafficking, The Associated Press reported.
Group leader Laura Silsby said the group paid no money for the children, whom she said they obtained from well-known Haitian pastor Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.
The Idaho group had rented hotel rooms in the Dominican Republic for up to six months to house the children while the orphanage is being built, Lankford said.
"They really believed that they had all the paperwork that they needed," he said.
Lankford heard from his wife, Corina, and daughter, Nicole, when they arrived at the border Friday. There, they were told they needed other papers; one group leader returned to Port-au-Prince with authorities to sort things out, Lankford said Saturday.
"This morning, we stopped hearing from them."
He said he doesn't believe they are in danger. The Americans have a hearing before a judge Monday.
The U.S. Embassy sent officials who met with the detained Americans and gave them food and bug spray. The children were being housed at an SOS Children's Village outside the capital.
A Reuters news report said the five men and five women were arrested for suspicion of being involved in illegal adoptions. Government officials said they fear that illegal adoptions are on the rise; they said the Americans had no documents to prove they had authority to take the children.
Silsby told Reuters the group "had permission from the Dominican Republic" government to bring the children there. Silsby told the AP that the group didn't have adoption documents from the Haitian government.
She added: "They accuse us of children trafficking. This is something I would never do. We were not trying to do something wrong."
www.idahostatesman.com
Church group was trying to rescue children from a collapsed orphanage, a member said.
BY SANDRA FORESTER - sforester@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2010 Idaho Statesman
Published: 01/31/10
Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents.
Sean Lankford said his wife and daughter were among 10 Americans detained Saturday at the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic as they were moving 33 orphans to new housing.
Lankford said the Idahoans had been planning an orphanage in the Dominican Republic for several years, and they were ready to build when the earthquake hit. Members quickly arranged to help a pastor whose orphanage in Haiti collapsed, Lankford said.
"They've been working with governments on bothsides for a while," he said.
The Idahoans from Meridian's Central Valley Baptist Church and from East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls are with Idaho-based New Life Children's Refuge. The detainees include people from Texas and Kansas.
Despite their good intentions, the Americans - the first known to be taken into Haitian custody since the Jan. 12 quake - stepped into a firestorm in Haiti, where leaders have suspended adoptions amid fears that lost or parentless children are vulnerable to trafficking, The Associated Press reported.
Group leader Laura Silsby said the group paid no money for the children, whom she said they obtained from well-known Haitian pastor Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.
The Idaho group had rented hotel rooms in the Dominican Republic for up to six months to house the children while the orphanage is being built, Lankford said.
"They really believed that they had all the paperwork that they needed," he said.
Lankford heard from his wife, Corina, and daughter, Nicole, when they arrived at the border Friday. There, they were told they needed other papers; one group leader returned to Port-au-Prince with authorities to sort things out, Lankford said Saturday.
"This morning, we stopped hearing from them."
He said he doesn't believe they are in danger. The Americans have a hearing before a judge Monday.
The U.S. Embassy sent officials who met with the detained Americans and gave them food and bug spray. The children were being housed at an SOS Children's Village outside the capital.
A Reuters news report said the five men and five women were arrested for suspicion of being involved in illegal adoptions. Government officials said they fear that illegal adoptions are on the rise; they said the Americans had no documents to prove they had authority to take the children.
Silsby told Reuters the group "had permission from the Dominican Republic" government to bring the children there. Silsby told the AP that the group didn't have adoption documents from the Haitian government.
She added: "They accuse us of children trafficking. This is something I would never do. We were not trying to do something wrong."
Comment
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Comment by fireguy on May 17, 2010 at 9:06pm
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Evidently the Haitian Justice System is more just than the U.S.
She would have gotten a much harsher sentence here.
Some highlights of the case.
The judge sentenced Laura Silsby, 40, to the time she had already spent in jail on remand, and said she was free to leave the country.
Silsby, from Idaho, was caught with nine other Americans trying to take the children into the Dominican Republic.
The other missionaries were not charged and returned to the US.
They claimed they were trying to help destitute orphans.
But it emerged that the children were not orphans. Some of the parents said they had handed them over because they thought they would get better care in US hands. The earthquake in Haiti on 12 January killed more than 220,000 people and left more than a million homeless.
'Praising God'
All 10 of the Americans were initially detained by the Haitian authorities, but only Silsby was charged.
Prosecutors first accused her of abducting the children, but the charge was downgraded to one of "irregular travel" - a crime which covers people smuggling.
Prosecutor Jean-Serge Joseph said she had been sentenced to three months and eight days in jail - the exact time she had spent in custody waiting for her trial.
The Associated Press reported that Silsby returned briefly to her jail cell before heading to Port-au-Prince airport.
"I'm praising God," she told an AP reporter as she waited for her flight.
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Thanks James I hadn't heard that yet.
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Comment by truth on May 17, 2010 at 6:44pm
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A US missionary has been convicted of trying to illegally take 33 children out of Haiti in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8688496.stm
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"The government now requires Prime Minister Max Bellerive to personally authorize the departure of any child as a way to prevent child trafficking."
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=haiti-detains-americans-ta...
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Anything is possible James but I think they are being made an example of because it is politically correct to villify Christians so they are easy targets. Also the Prime Minister having to sign approval for children leaving the country is fishy to me seems he would have more important matters to attend to given the devistation of his country.
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Could it be that this was created to be distraction from the real scum bags behind such disgusting crimes such as human trafficking and organ thefts?
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