In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake a group of ten fundamentalist Baptist American do-gooders snuck across the border from the Dominican Republican, convinced temporary and permanent caregivers (including the parents!) of 33 Haitian children to allow the children to be loaded onto a bus and driven out of Haiti. The caregivers, and even the children believed that they were going off to ‘summer camp’ or to ‘boarding school’… based on flyers/leaflets that the team of ten were passing out. But also within their possession where other flyers that detailed their goal to remove 100 children from Haiti and take them first to the Dominican Republic, and then back to the US for adoption. Not all the children were orphans…
At this point there is growing debate over what to do about the ten Americans. My answer is simple; jail them. If they are part of a child trafficking organization, then they deserve to be incarcerated. If they are simply arrogant Americans discounting the laws of Haiti, then they deserve to do time to teach them respect for another nations’ laws and people. If they are simply mis-guided, over-zealous Christian fundamentalists, they need to spend time in jail to learn some humility. And if they are simply do-gooders who never considered the implications of their actions, then they need to spend time behind bars reflecting on their collective stupidity.