Target of legislation is sex-traffickers; critics call it a ‘scarlet letter.’
Legislation requiring the State Department to identify registered sex offenders with a special mark on their passports received final passage in the House of Representatives on Monday night and went to President Obama’s desk. The White House has not indicated whether President Obama plans to sign the bill.
Called “International Megan’s Law” by its sponsors, the bill provides that offenders’ passports contain a “unique identifier” — as yet unspecified. Critics call it a scarlet letter. “Who is going to have a unique identifier added to their passport next? Is it going to be Muslims? Is it going to be gays?” asks Janice Bellucci, a civil rights attorney who has fought against sex offender registries.
Supporters say the bill will help prevent sex trafficking, since sex offenders “hop on planes and go to places for a week or two and abuse little children,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., told NJ.com. Multiple requests for comment made to Smith’s office were not returned.
In drafting the bill, Smith and others drew upon a 2010 GAO report that found that about 4,500 of the more than 16 million U.S. passports issued each year go to registered sex offenders. The report included a selected list of registered sex offenders who received passports in 2008, with detailed descriptions of their crimes.
In a rebuttal printed as an appendix in the report, the State Department noted that there was no evidence anyone on that list had traveled in order to commit a sex crime, and that it already has the authority to deny passports to people convicted of sex tourism involving minors and those whose probation or parole terms forbid them from traveling.
“We think the report is very misleading,” the State Department wrote. “Starting with the title, ‘Passports Issued to Thousands of Registered Sex Offenders,’ we are concerned that it conveys more ‘shock value’ than factual accuracy.”
Multiple studies have shown that sex offender registries do not prevent sex crimes and in fact can increase crime, by driving people on the registry away from legal employment, housing, and positive social networks.
In addition to the new passport marking, the law would codify an existing Immigration and Customs Enforcement program called “Operation Angel Watch,” which notifies officials abroad when registered sex offenders plan to travel to those countries.
Critics of the program say there are myriad reasons U.S. citizens might travel abroad that have nothing to do with past crimes: for work, to visit family, and for vacation. The “Angel Watch” notifications would still apply even in cases where crimes were committed decades prior, and when the crimes that landed people on the registry had nothing to do with sex trafficking or international travel.
Paul Rigney heads up a group in Dallas called Registrant Travel Action Group in which he is collecting stories of people whose status on the registry has interfered with international travel. One man wrote that he has a daughter in medical school abroad; he fears he won’t be able to travel to her graduation. One woman wrote that she and her husband wanted to take their three kids on a Carnival cruise, but “I received a letter denying me access to ever travel with them again due to my registration status. I was appalled and humiliated.”
Bob, who asked The Marshall Project to withhold his last name, arrived at an airport in the Phillippines to visit his wife, who lives there, only to be turned away. Several years prior he had pleaded guilty to a single count of Violation of Privacy — a “peeping Tom” charge that arose from a dispute with his ex-wife. He had traveled to the Philippines many times before, he says, but suddenly in 2012, unbeknownst to him, a “traveling sex offender alert” had been sent to the Philippine government. Because his immigration petition to bring his wife to the U.S. is still pending, these trips are the couple’s only way to see each other.
This is just insane! this is a FLAGRANT violation of our civil rights to be able to travel in, around, and outside of the United States! Sadly this October I was scheduled to work a 1 week job there. Now I don’t know how I am going to be able to tell them that this job, that could potentially net me several thousand dollars in income, is not going to be able to be completed. Not doing this job can, and WILL cost me tens of thousands of dollars in future income because they won’t want to hire me for other jobs!
Thank you for sharing your concerns, Bill. We also got your email.
We have a very important request that anyone who will be impacted by this law in a way that impairs their ability to work or visit with relatives, contact RegistrantTAG at the information below.
We, in conjunction with RSOL National and several other affiliates WILL ABSOLUTELY be filing a lawsuit as soon as this bill is signed into law. We are looking for plaintiffs NOW. This is a Nationwide issue, so you do not need to be from Florida, though we have a ship captain and airline pilot, both from FL, whose offenses occurred decades ago, whose careers will now be over because of this law.
If you have a similar situation and are interested in fighting back, please contact:
Paul Rigney
Registrant Travel Action Group, Inc
[email protected]
214-624-2552
Even the State Department rebutted this stupidity.
“In a rebuttal printed as an appendix in the report, the State Department noted THAT THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE ANYONE ON THAT LIST HAD TRAVELED IN ORDER TO COMMIT A SEX CRIME, and that it already has the authority to deny passports to people convicted of sex tourism involving minors and those whose probation or parole terms forbid them from traveling.”
They should tell the President this.
Thank you Marshall’s Project for an honest report. That’s the only thing thatt can turn this around…