The judge told the AP on Thursday that he was accepting a request from defense attorneys to let the Americans go free while the investigation continues.

Ten U.S. missionaries arrested trying to leave earthquake-crippled Haiti with a busload of children may be spending the weekend in jail despite a judge recommending their provisional release.

The prosecutor who got the case Thursday afternoon told The Associated Press he would respond to the judge by next week. All public offices are closed Friday, the quake’s one-month anniversary that is a national day of mourning.

The recommendation by Judge Bernard Saint-Vil was the best news the Americans have had in the two weeks they’ve been held in a stuffy, grimy jail since being arrested.

Saint-Vil has the final word on whether to free them, but Prosecutor-General Josephe Mannes Louis first has a chance to raise objections. The judge told the AP on Thursday that he was accepting a request from defense attorneys to let the Americans go free while the investigation continues.