10 US citizens held over immigration 'adoption'
February 01 2010 by Liam Clifford
Immigration authorities in Haiti have arrested 10 US citizens relating to violations in Haitian immigration laws.
The case relates to the proposed adoption of 33 children taken by a church group from the US; however officials from both Haiti and US immigration say that this is now a ‘abduction’ case.
The group had claimed that the children were now all orphans following the disaster and were taking them across the border and into the Dominican Republic, it had been claimed by the group, of five women and five men, that they were taking them to an orphanage in the country.
It was at the border and under questioning that most of the children, ranging from 4 months to 14 years, told officials that they did in fact have relatives in Haiti that were still alive.
The children are now being cared for at a centre run by children’s charity SOS Children’s Village in Croix des Bouquets. Patricia Vargas who runs the centre told a news agency that “Most of the kids have family,” she added that some of “..their parents are alive, and some of them gave addresses and phone numbers.”
Haiti has since tightened its immigration policy and imposed travel restrictions on all children leaving the country.
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