Americans charged with child trafficking in Haiti

As survivors of Haiti’s killer earthquake are still trying to cope, Haitian police have charged 10 Americans with child trafficking in the tragedy-stricken country.

On Friday, police arrested 10 members of a US charity group when they were trying to take more than 30 children who had survived the quake.

The alleged abductors, five men and five women with US passports, wanted to cross into the Dominican Republic with 33 children without the proper papers.

The youngsters, who range in age from two months to 14 years, all have family members that survived the devastating incident, according to the director of the Haitian Center, Patricia Vargas.

Some of the older children had spoken to aid workers and said their parents were alive, and some had given the center their addresses and phone numbers, Vargas added.

However, the members of New Life Children’s Refuge, an Idaho-based charity, denied the charges, saying they were taking the children to temporary shelters in the Dominican Republic.

The US embassy in Port-au-Prince said the charity group was being held for “alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration.”

Haitian officials have warned that child traffickers might be able to take advantage of the chaos after the quake.

Meanwhile, President Rene Preval criticized a lack of coordination among countries bringing aid to Haiti nearly 20 days after the earthquake.

Preval said countries such as Germany, the US, and France are channeling their assistance through their own institutions and bypassing the Haitian government.