Member Advised Passport Confiscated at Airport
A member just advised us that as he was about to board an international flight (which he properly reported under IML) he was approached by three US Marshalls who confiscated his passport and told him he had to get a new one with an identifier. He was not permitted to travel and he had received no prior notice that he had to update his passport.
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My passport – issued six months ago – was confiscated at the gate yesterday by U.S. Customs as I was boarding an international flight. No explanation given, no questions answered. “It’s revoked. Call the State Department.” When I tried to ask further questions, I was told to leave or be removed. Airline would not refund my ticket. State Dept. gave me an address to write (snail mail) with my questions. Web searches today give me tons of info that my passport SHOULD have had this identifier. But it DIDN’T. They never asked if I was an SO on any form I filled out. There was nothing in their paperwork about restrictions on travel, marked passports, nothing. I applied, I got passport. I notified local L.E. about my planned business travel, was told “have a nice trip!” Now I have no passport, I’m out a lot of money, and I have to figure out what to do next. Does this calendar say 2019 or 1984?
Mike – is it OK if we pass this information on to an attorney handling these cases?
Absolutely on lawyer reference! I am currently trying to contact one locally but keep getting voice mail. To other questions asked – if you don’t have the identifier, you ABSOLUTELY are at risk of having the same thing happen. I have no idea how to prevent it. I assume it was taken BECAUSE I properly reported my upcoming trip. And I was enroute to Istanbul, Turkey for a work assignment plus some vacation time, with short layover in Frankfurt, Germany. Neither “hot spots” for anything, as far as I know.
Mike – please call FAC and leave a message for Legal with your phone number.
I assume that this is only for Florida residents?
I’m not a Florida resident, the legal folks were very helpful in advising me what I needed to do to be able to travel. I got new passport with identifier (had to almost BEG them to put it in there, to avoid repeat experience!) and have been out of the country several times since. No problems except for extended Customs check on every return.
Would you mind sharing on how you were able to get the identifier on there? What did legal tell you? I have emailed passport services and they were no help.
Legal advised me to go to a passport office in person, with the revocation letter (that arrived AFTER they’d confiscated my passport) and fill out a complete new application for a passport and submit it, explaining to the person what the problem was. I did that, they stapled a copy of the revocation letter to my application when they put it in. When I went back to get the passport on the appointment date, it wasn’t ready (I got the impression from the supervisor that it was there, but still didn’t have the stamp… of course they will give you no answers) – I had to wait another day or two and make another trip. But it had the proper stamp on the back page. I did NOT have it mailed to me, but picked it up so that I could refuse it if it was wrong, and not have to pay ANOTHER fee.
I just got my first ever passport today.I am in Florida. No unique identifier on passport.Will I be denied my flight next month to France ? What can I do to assure it is a good passport ? The State dept should know by my driver license photo or SS# that I am an RSO for L&L in 2002.No probation or parole but I register twice annually. Should I call the state dept and have it fixed before I leave for France.It’s only an 8 day trip and I don’t want to lose the money I spent so far.Thanks.
You can try contacting them – in our experience they don’t give out information.
Update: I went back to passport office and applied for a new passport, with the “revocation letter” I received two weeks AFTER they confiscated my passport. It took an extra day and an extra trip to the office, but I got a new passport with the stamp on page 27. I then applied for and received a new visa to Turkey, travelled there, had a great time. Coming back, got stranded overnight in London. Was issued a six-month visa THERE (in spite of the “no SO” regs they have… the guy asked no questions…) and was able to go to a hotel and dinner at a pub and all, before my flight back to US. Had LESS trouble at Customs on entry than on previous trips with the “non-stamped” passport!
So I see now what happened here. The individual attempted two different trips virtually back to back. His notification for the first trip triggered a passport revocation letter from the state dept. The revocation did not occur right away, but why the time he was departing on his second trip, the state dept’s revocation letter was in the mail to him, and he was not around to receive it. So he had no way of realizing that he was about to travel with a just-revoked passport.
At least this what I gathered from the Halloween NARSOL call, in which attorney Janice B. characterized this as a rare and unusual situation— ordinarily, people should not be concerned that US Marshalls will prevent them from traveling.
If I got this wrong, let me know.
My experience may give hope to some. I’m going to provide as much relevant detail as possible because I think with IML it is hard to generalize, everyone’s situation may be slightly different. I was convicted in 2011 of misdemeanor indecent assault in Pennsylvania, with a 9 year old victim. My sentence was 5 years probation, and registration for 10 years, no contact with minors, etc. In 2012 PA passed their version of Adam Walsh in response to the Sandusky scandal, and I was classified as a Tier 3 offender with lifetime registration. I had a good attorney who was able to vacate my plea before the new law went into effect, and I agreed to two new counts of lesser charges that were not required to register at all under the old Megans Law, but under the new law I was re-classified as a Tier 1 offender with 15 years registration. As a result of the recent PA Supreme Court decision, I was informed by the PA State Police in March of this year that I no longer have to register and I was taken off the registry. I already had an unmarked US passport that I obtained in 2015 before IML went into effect. In August I traveled to Costa Rica. I did not notify Angel Watch, believing that I was under no requirement to do so since I was de-registered. Leading up to the trip and especially going through passport control, I was terrified that I would be turned back or worse. But nothing happened, I had a completely normal travel experience. I know that I am blessed and my experience may be unique, but it may give others hope who are in a similar situation. It appears to me that as I have been removed from the registry in PA I am not a “covered” sex offender and thus I am free to travel internationally without notifying the authorities. I am planning to travel again and perhaps even retire in a foreign country. I am pretty sure that there are still certain countries that would give me trouble, such as the UK and Canada, but I am crossing those off my list and focusing on continental Europe and Latin America, where I hope I will be welcome.
In Florida ALL are lifetime.
California finally did something about their lifetime registration. They’ve gone to a tiered system which takes effect in a couple of years or so. It’s not a automatic drop off, you have to petition after your time is up, but it’s better than the blanket for years. I think that will only leave Alabama, Florida and South Carolina if I’m not mistaken.
This is my second time trying to maybe get an answer from you guys, my offense was in 98 , victim over the age of 18 but I was , designated as a predator I have noticed most of the rules of comes out is dealing with victims under the age of 18 does this passport issued identifier, pertain to me too? Thank you
Rob – FAC is not a law firm, we are not attorneys and we are neither qualified nor licensed to tell you whether a law applies to you because the facts and circumstances of every person’s case are different. We can only lead you to the relevant definition in the law:
Under the laws:
(1)the term “covered sex offender” means an individual who— (A)is a sex offender, as defined insection 21503(f) of title 34 (an individual required to register under the sex offender registration program of any jurisdiction or included in the National Sex Offender Registry, on the basis of an offense against a minor.); and (B)is currently required to register under the sex offender registration program of any jurisdiction;
As such, if your victim was not a minor you may not have your passport branded, but as stated previously this information should not be considered legal advise.
Thank you very much for this. It is exactly what I am waiting for when I petition a judge in a few years to be relieved of my duty to register, but until now, haven’t read about anyone’s travels after being relieved.
lots of international Travelers out there. my conviction was for a misdemeanor possession of child pronography and in California I had it dismissed but did not get the Certificate of Rehabilitation to vacate my registration. So what’s it like traveling to other countries out there? I’d like to go to England again but it would be a bother to turn up to Heathrow and have customs turn me away because they did a interpol or whatever quick criminal check they do even if there was no marker in my passport. So what’s that like or how does it work
The UK generally denies entry to registrants.
I got a question I’ve been trying to find an answer to but no luck. So maybe someone here has an idea.
I was convicted of L&L, my “victim” was 15, I had just turned 18, we knew each other for over 8 years.
Anyway, I was put on probation, lasted a year, absconded for about 6 years. I got hit with a failure to register along with the probation violation, I pleaded butler and received 6 years. The charge was originally was in 1998, in 2007 they passed a romeo and juliette law, I started the process immediately but didn’t proceed any further in fear of messing it up, it sat in the court system for nearly 4 years, I finally hired a lawyer after saving up to finish it out. I went to court twice and the judge vacated the requirement to register and ordered FDLE to remove all of my personal information.
I have checked religiously the last 3 months every registry, from state to international, I don’t show up anywhere, 0 results, I’m still lingering on a few commercial sites but I have got most of them to remove my info using the judges order.
I want to travel now that I don’t have to register, it’s been virtually my whole life I’ve been restricted in one way or another. I looked at the IML laws and it refers to “covered” as the deciding factor.
My victim was a minor, but I was vacated by a judge the requirement to register. I have a passport that’s valid with thr marker.
So my question is, does IML still apply if I’m not required to register or us there still a chance they take my passport if I try and board an international flight because I would still need thr marker?
I had a typo in there, I meant to say I currently have a passport that is valid and does not have the marker.
I don’t want to call angel watch for obvious reasons if I could find the answer somewhere else.
Frank – we are trying to find out for you. Unfortunately we suspect that as of May they revoked certain passports without notification.