Americans Held in Haiti Plead for U.S. Government Help

A group of 10 Americans jailed in Haiti for attempting to take 33 children out of the country illegally is pleading with the U.S. government to assist them, the New York Times reports. The Americans were charged on Jan. 26 with kidnapping and criminal conspiracy, and now say the U.S. is not doing enough to help them.

"I have faith in God," said Corinna Lankford, one of the detainees, who say they believed they had permission to rescue orphans after last month's earthquake. "But maybe the U.S. government could help a little more, too. No one is giving us any kind of information about what is going on." The group is being held in sweltering jail cells, where they have suffered from infected mosquito bites and where one of them, a diabetic, went a week without insulin.

Five of the Americans were questioned by the investigation judge on Monday, and the other five will be interrogated on Tuesday afternoon. The judge has said he plans to investigate the case fully, and will not be pressured into releasing the detainees, all members of an Idaho church group, before their case has been decided.

"I want to hear what they thought they were doing," the judge said about their testimony this week. "I hope to hear from the parents of the younger ones."