Prime Minister Max Bellerive also tells The Associated Press his country is open to having the Americans tried in the United States.
Bellerive says some of the children have parents who are alive. The government is attempting to locate them.
He says a judicial system needs to determine whether the Americans were acting in good faith - as they claim - or are child traffickers.
The Americans are mostly from Idaho. They have been held since being arrested Friday trying to enter the Dominican Republic with the children.
