ACSOL – International Travel
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL), a national organization based in California, has put together some information on international travel for persons required to register as well as a form to gather information from those who have traveled, in order to disseminate travel information to others.
The information and form can be found here: https://all4consolaws.org/2019/04/international-travel-2019/
The organization, led by attorney Janice Bellucci, has previously challenged the International Megan’s Law, but those challenges were dismissed, in part because they were brought prematurely. FAC continues to work closely with ACSOL and Registrant Travel Action Group (RTAG) (which maintains a Travel Matrix informing registrants where they can expect to be banned from entering) to hopefully bring another lawsuit.
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I completely understand. Unless something drastically changes, I have to register for life and have traveled out of state once in the past fourteen years let alone tried to travel internationally. With now only having two days away from your home address before you have to register where you are as a residence, even traveling within the state is problematic. I would like to travel to the UK but they won’t let me in via air travel.
After looking at The MATRIX, it would be easier to see where we CAN go…
I have to admit this whole issue has me spitting bullets I’m so angry over it. Last year I got a letter from the passport office revoking my passport after a failed attempt to go to Jamaica (which I should have known better based on the RTAG page). The way I read the IML is if you no longer have to register then in theory you shouldn’t be put onto the Interpol watch list when traveling much less be required to get the scarlet letter on your passport. Or at least the challenge could be made from that perspective.
Between the IML restrictions and the state to state differences in registration laws (which are really absurd) I feel like I’m risking additional criminal charges by going anywhere outside my home state.
I’m now at 20 years post-conviction and am fortunate enough to have built a stable life financially where I CAN travel.
I’m very curious as to how others in the community are handling not only the international travel and the inter-state travel? From my perspective I’ve thought about working with lawyer based immigration offices in the destination country to work through the legal morass so I can get approved to go to a desired country before stepping foot onto a plane.
From state to state – does anyone really register when they are traveling, or do they just keep their nose clean and avoid LEO’s while outside their state? Where I’m at I can drive for 8 hrs and never set foot into another state – but folks living back east I simply cannot imagine how they manage state to state.
I’m open for conversation around this as I’d like to work to get this issue fixed.
Brian – you should get in touch with Paul at RTAG. That organization’s entire focus is on travel.
FAC – thank you for the pointer. I touched base with Paul a few years (gosh was it that long?) ago. He seemed to be playing that information pretty close to the vest. I don’t blame him at all, especially given the nature of the service.
I just want to DO something to fix this – I grow really tired of moping about and want to challenge this stuff to put an end to the insanity.
Not sure about playing it close to the vest. The reality is; it was all very new a few years ago and much of the information collected was anecdotal. As time has passed, more data has been compiled and things are better organized, we know more definitively what’s what, than “so and so tried to go to XYZ and got turned back”.
Totally understand. I didn’t go back and revisit the site – I did bookmark it and it is the foundation for international travel for me and anyone I know who is impacted.
After my passport was revoked it sorta became a moot point (re: my comment below).
I’m just very very frustrated and defeated over the whole situation and feel like a prisoner in my own country.
Thank you for providing this information. Now I have to decide if I want to get my Scarlet Letter passport.
If you fly into one of those countries, does anyone know if you would be allowed into one of the countries on the list, like Ireland or Scotland? Or would you be denied on the train?
Andrew – I’m holding off on doing anything with my passport until after I can de-register (which in and of itself is a massive exercise in patience). The way I read the IML is that you have a chance to not have the scarlet letter if you aren’t required to register – but even that will likely take a legal challenge.
None of this is going to happen quickly – and sadly. The main reason I’m so anxious to bust through these processes is because I figure I may have about 20 years at best before it’ll be pointless as I’ll be older than it would even be worth trying to go anywhere.