The Prime Minister of Haiti has criticized the 10 US missionaries who were arrested while trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country.

The Haitian PM Jean-Max Bellerive described the US missionaries as “kidnappers” as some of the children had parents that were alive but not located yet.

A spokeswoman for the missionaries said they had wanted to take the children to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

“They really didn’t have any paperwork… I did not understand that that would really be required,” Laura Silsby told CNN.

“We believe we have been charged very falsely with trafficking. We all gave up everything we had… to come here to help these children and by no means are any part of that horrendous practice.”

A Haitian judge is expected to decide on Tuesday whether the five men and five women from Idaho have a case to answer. A hearing had been scheduled for Monday, but was postponed because of a lack of interpreters for the Americans.

One girl was crying, and saying, ‘I am not an orphan. I still have my parents.’

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