Kidnapping is Kidnapping Even in Haiti

By: Paxton Sawyer

Copyright©  2010

All Rights Reserved 

Whatever the intentions of the alleged ‘religious’ group that grabbed 33 children in Haiti were, kidnapping is still kidnapping. The statement of their spokesperson, Laura Silsby, that the group was “just trying to do the right thing” is a lie. The right thing was to try to help the children legally. The “right thing” was not grabbing children and trying to smuggle them out of the country. No matter how honorable your intentions might be, your actions speak louder than your intentions.

And the actions taken in this case were illegal and highly questionable.

Child trafficking is a major problem worldwide. And from all appearances, that may have been the real intention of this ‘religious’ group. They rented rooms at a resort in the Dominican Republic and had obtained the necessary documents and approval of the government of the Dominican Republic. They had solicited funds to get 100 children out of Haiti. They entered a sovereign nation illegally. They took the word of someone they didn’t know that these children were orphaned. And they were trying to smuggle these children out of Haiti.

At a possible fee of $10,000 per children which adds up to $330,000.00.

This doesn’t look innocent at all, does it? It looks like a pretty good payday for those whose ‘heart’ is in the right place.

These people had no idea if the children were truly orphaned or abandoned or if they were just separated from their families or if they had extended family members to care for them.

It would have been admirable if this group had sent people and resources to aid the children. To feed them and to provide them with water and clothing and basic sanitation.

It would have been admirable if they had gone to the Haitian government and volunteered to care for the injured and the truly desperate children or to assist in the adoption of those who are truly orphaned.

But they didn’t. They went in with the intention to grab 100 reasonably healthy children.

No one in authority would have known that the children were gone. They would have been listed as dead which would have caused emotional trauma to any relatives that any of these children had. And these children would have been “lost” in the United States. I’m sure that child traffickers know how to get Social Security cards and how to get the children legal status in the United States. Wait a minute. No, they don’t. They don’t want anyone to know that the children are here. That is why they kidnap and traffic children. If it was legal and of good intent, they would legally adopt the children.

Now, organizations and individuals will raise money for these ‘religious’ folks, the now ‘victims’, government officials will get involved and time, money and other resources that could have gone to help the truly needy will be used to help ‘free’ these allegedly fine folks.

We shouldn’t waste a dime or a second on these folks. It would be better that they spent some years in a Haitian prison to contemplate their illegal actions. I’m sure that their ‘good intentions’ will sustain them through their ordeal. It might even allow them some insight into the ordeal some of those children might have had to endure if their scheme had succeeded.