On January 30, 2010 ten members of Idaho based religious group "New Life Children's Refuge" were arrested under suspicion of attempting to take 33 children across the border to the Dominican Republic. The ten were arrested when trying to cross the border with the children, while not having sufficient papers authorizing them to take them out of the country.

The Americans are being held near Port-au-Prince, at a police station. They have been in contact with reporters of UK's BBC, who they told the arrest was a mistake, and they were not aware of additional paperwork needed to take the children abroad. According to them they had planned to take the children to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

In the advent of the Haiti earthquake, January 12, 2010, many organizations warned against child trafficking. The Haitian government has imposed new controls and requirements on adoptions, especially to prevent the risk of child trafficking. One of the measures taken is to have countrie's prime minister to sign off on every minor's departure abroad for the time being.http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4jLcvgUENnr6CUKJKjhjT57XvIw http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8489738.stm

Haitian Social Affairs Minister Yves Christallin was very clear when addressing the AFP news agency:
"This is an abduction, not an adoption. What is important for us in Haiti is that a child needs to have an authorisation from this ministry to leave the country,"

Laura Silsby, of the The New Life Refuge, was allowed to address the media. She stated:
"In the time frame that they were with us the team deeply fell in love with the children. They are very precious kids that have lost their homes and their families, and are so, so in need of God's love and compassion and a very nurturing setting."

She claimed the children were received from a legitimate orphanage in Haiti.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8490515.stm

On Sunday, January 31, 2010, it became apparent that the abducted children, who were brought to a local orphanage, weren't even orphans to begin with. They talked to some of the children, who were able to tell they still had living parents, even providing teelphone numbers and addresses.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8490515.stmhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4jLcvgUENnr6CUKJKjhjT57XvIw

On February 4, 2010 a Haitian government spokesman stated that the ten Americans involved in the child abduction affair last week were charged Thursday with kidnapping children and criminal association. The ten were denied bail, as the accusations involve kidnapping of children, in which case Haitian law prohibits bail.

The ten face a possible conviction of life in prison for kidnapping. In addition, they face an affitional of three to nine years for criminal association, according to a former justice minister.http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/04/haiti.arrests/index.html?hpt=T2

On February 17, 2010, a judge ruled that eight of the ten detainees were to be freed on bail and could leave the country immediately.http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/17/haiti.border.arrests/index.html?hpt=T1