The US embassy said here Sunday that ten US citizens were being held in Haiti for "alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration," following reports they tried to leave the country with 33 Haitian children. "American diplomats have visited the detained Americans and are in communication with Haitian authorities," said the embassy in a statement.
"As always, US Embassy officials will take all appropriate steps to ensure the well-being of US citizens detained abroad." Haiti's Culture and Communications Minister Marie Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said earlier that police had arrested nine US citizens - members of a US Christian ministry group - as they tried to enter the Dominican Republic with a bus-load of children.
Aramick Louis, Haiti's secretary of state for public security, said the detainees were being held on suspicion of seeking to leave the country with children who did not have documentation, adding that a judge would hear the case and determine whether to move forward.
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