ICE Program Turns Away Sex Offenders at Foreign Borders
a little-known unit inside a nondescript government building in Fairfax, Virginia, is running a quieter mission with a singular focus: keeping convicted child sex offenders away from foreign victims before they ever arrive in America.
Congress formalized the program in 2016 in International Megan’s Law, giving the center statutory authority, a dedicated facility in Fairfax, Virginia, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony in November 2019.
Since 2016, the Angel Watch Center has issued more than 10,000 notifications to foreign countries of child sex offenders arriving through their travel hubs and notified the State Department of more than 3,500 passports that require a convicted sex offender designation. The program now has 90 offices operating in U.S. embassies in 50 nations.
Named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old New Jersey girl abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1994 by a convicted sex offender living across the street from her home, International Megan’s Law requires convicted sex offenders to notify law enforcement at least 21 days before traveling abroad, mandates a visible identifier on their passports, and directs the Angel Watch Center to notify destination countries in advance of their arrival.
The notation that the bearer has been convicted of a sex offense against a minor serves as an automatic alert to border authorities worldwide. Because the designation cannot be printed on a passport card, offenders are required to carry their full passport book, adding both cost and visibility to their status at every border crossing.
The designation is not a travel ban, and American officials do not direct foreign governments how to respond. Once the Angel Watch Center confirms a traveler matches an entry in the National Sex Offender Registry, it forwards a notification package through the embedded Homeland Security Investigations attaché offices, which then pass a condensed version containing only identification and necessary details to law enforcement or border security agents in the destination country.
Any action taken rests solely at the discretion of the receiving country under its own laws. The center makes no recommendation on whether the offender should be granted entry, but the practical impact has been decisive on several occasions.
The program’s institutional footing, for now, looks stable. It is funded within ICE’s broader Homeland Security Investigations budget, which received a significant boost under the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2026 request. Its essential activities have not halted during the partial government shutdown over other ICE activities.
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Is this it for the article or is there more? I cannot see more if there is more due to a paywall.
I “feel” so much safer now ( sarcasm)
Yeah, i call B.S. on the “American officials do not direct foreign governments how to respond”
I was banned from my travels to Ukraine for 3 years in 2019 and when i asked why the Ukrainian officials informed me that the U.S. had stated that i was raping kids and it was in their best interest to ban me from their country.
There are 2 problems with that 1. My plea had nothing to do with touching any kids & 2.The judge withheld adjudication and placed “court see no victims under the age of 18” on my final paperwork
the whole reason they want us to report our travel right down to minute of where we are staying what flights we are taking back and forth is so that they can inform the country we are going to and highly recommend that they ban us and when we return they pull us aside and make us go through the TSA nonsense for an hour or so before they release us into the wild. So it is officially not a “Ban” but in reality it really is. there are few countries that don’t care about your charges, that’s why i say if your young and or able to live on a pension of some sort get to one of those countries and enjoy the rest of your life. Common sense if you live in a place where there is no food you need to move to a place that has food to survive. Being on the registry shouldn’t be the end of your life
Maybe next time there’s a protest around DC, we should protest ICE at their own headquarters. All the more the reason to support efforts to abolish ICE.
If you want to educate this reporter on the dangers of this program:
https://holliemckay.com/contacts
I don’t have prersonal experience with this and so I can’t share my own stories with her on travel experiences, but maybe if a few readers here who HAVE traveled reached out to her, maybe we can at least influence a counter-report to what she wrote because she sounded pro-ICE in this article.
I wonder how much money is spent on that dedicated facility and those 90 offices abroad monitoring those 3500 passports? They must spend tens of thousands per passport at a minimum. What a waste of money!
Perhaps we all should collectively pick a date to travel and give them all of the notices on the same day. What a day that will be for them to remember! 😉
it’s a scam office like everything congress touches and ounce it’s added to the bureaucracy it’s impossible to remove.
That Angel Watch notification story contains very small bits of truth and a lot of untruths. What Angel Watch actually sends is not as nondescript or factual as they claim. I know this for a verifiable fact. This is also why they will never tell you what they really send — and even go out of their way to instruct the receiving country that they are not allowed to share it with you.
I had the opportunity, through a country (which I won’t disclose) and an official (whom I also won’t disclose) for obvious reasons, to see the actual Angel Watch notification. I can assure you that it is only very loosely tied to the truth. It is heavily slanted, exaggerated, and has very little basis in reality.
They claim they don’t dictate to countries what to do, but that is also a very big lie. I have had solid verification from foreign countries to the contrary. I warned yall to fight the international laws before the gates closed. They be closing and nothing is harder to remove a congressional created office with no oversite.
Well I agree what they are saying is bs
this has been going on since 2016 as for “do not direct foreign governments how to respond. Once the Angel Watch Center confirms a traveler matches an entry in the National Sex Offender Registry, )))
this is bullsht US embassy’s have access to criminal records now lot of countries Philippines Thailand have entry forms you do on line have to do it with in 3 days of travel all of it goes to US embassy for back ground checks if you have a sex offense 50-75 yrs old you are claimed to be RSO and denied.
I have or had the green notices from travelers who just happen to get lucky enough for the country of destination to to fk up and give the notices to the traveler…..
as for any kind of marriage to a foreign spouse RSO are barred from family Visa petitions (very Rare) 1 is granted…and for the hoops to jump threw to even try to get a family visa is Mega bucks
including a sexual assessment having to Prove your “0” risk to the beneficiary.. even if you get a 2% risk to ever cause harm your still denied which is Junk science USCIS knows this and using it to deny petitions it don’t matter who it is, everybody poses a risk to somebody.. example you run a red lite you posed a risk to another…
here is how fked up our government is, the SO can have the child of the marriage with him or her in the US but refuses to allow the mother/father to enter claiming the Petitioner may pose a risk…to the foreign spouse but to hell with the minor collateral damage as long as they can keep the spouse out of the US and away from the petitioner
yes stupid!!!! TO HELL TO THE CHILD OF THE MARRIAGE as long as they can keep the mother/wife out away from the husband and child….. due to the petitioner being on the reg. off reg or never been on the Reg. but had a say 50 yr old offense.
all im saying here is true very true
Im not on a registry BUT it happen to a certain party the child has been with the father since age 2 here in the US legally brought her home from another country but the mother is denied cause the husband might pose a risk..
Back to green notice
as for RSO SO or just a sex offense convicted withheld don’t matter even if you was never on the registry but had old Sex offense the US sends green notices making false claims to other countries that person IS RSO when there is no truth to that statement….
If you scroll the (denied in Philippines blogs) on this FAC site you will find a green notice there I posted it.. US may say its at your discretion BUT they ensure RSO is stated in about every line of that notice stressing and insinuating they want you to deny entry….
I know for a fact that what you say is true. I personally know a father who was convicted over thirty years ago of CSC3 for a consensual encounter with an underage girl he met in a bar. Today, he is married to a foreign judge who is also a law professor, and they have a ten-year-old son. The son is a dual citizen, so the U.S. government cannot prevent him from entering or living in the country.
However, out of apparent spite, Angel Watch was responsible for having his wife’s legal American documents destroyed at the airport because of the husband’s RSO status. When the decision was later appealed through the courts, USCIS upheld the ban on her entering the United States, based solely on her husband’s 30-year-old conviction. According to their attorneys, the ban is unappealable and not subject to judicial review.
So, in the name of “protecting the children,” Angel Watch and USCIS have ruled that the RSO father is allowed to live in America with his son—who can travel freely—but the boy’s mother, a sitting judge and law professor, is permanently barred from entering the United States or being with her son here.
To protect the children, of course.
I truly want every member of Congress named in the Epstein files or involved in those sex trafficking slush funds to be fully exposed and subjected to the same draconian rules they’ve imposed on everyone else. My entire family is military and has served this country and I still try to love it but right now I cant see through the blinding hate for the despicable excuse we have for a government that are the worst form of predators themselves but dare point the finger at others..
Trust me its depressing being SO forced to register. But being military fought and retired for this country and all the extra they impose or not known to those on the registry we have our own book or things taken away that we fought and earned from retired to veterans. I moved troops logistically in the middle east and equipment for battalions. Set up everything just had senior brass sign off on the fiscal part lol. 11231 troopers and millions of pieces of equipment. Had clearances and all. Now can’t even get on military installation they count us in same security risk as terrorist. Depressingly sad!!
Just want to make one correction about your comment. If your a U.S. citizen the United States cannot tell you who you can and cannot marry. The trick in our situation is you have to get married in a country outside the U.S. get all of your documentation from that country that you are married and submit it for a visa for your spouse. legally they cannot deny you, there are a few restrictions like you cannot sponsor children so your spouse has to be childless
so if i were to marry a German woman and we did it in Germany i would take that German marriage certificate and all of our other documentation and submit it for a bridal visa. there are many immigration attorneys out there that will guarantee you will get that visa
Uhm, actually it’s exactly the opposite. If you get married outside the USA, your spouse has zero rights and they won’t allow them entry. If you can somehow sneak your spouse into the USA and then file, they have some rights from being on American soil, and it becomes a battle of attrition where you can keep appealing forever. As long as your case is in appeals, they can stay, and eventually the corrupt machine that is the American government will often just let them stay.
you are incorrect if you are married outside the U.S. you will have to wait the 6 months to a year for the visa to become a reality but they cannot legally deny you, not yet at least.
i know several immigrations that will confirm that and if you really need that info all you have to do is ask F.A.C. for my e-mail and i will send you one attorney’s info that has done no less than 4 registered marriage visa’s successfully