Member Submission: Denied Entry into Kenya
I was so badly hoping that I would be able to write a member submission that would, for once, have a positive outcome in regards to international travel. Sadly, this post has turned in to one that will provide a word of caution about traveling abroad.
In 2009 I plead guilty in Florida to having consensual sexual contact with a 16 year old when I was in my 30’s. The actual charge was “unlawful sexual contact with certain minors (16 – 17 yo).”
Prior to my offense, I had traveled extensively abroad and had a passport that expired in 2009. I was invited to participate in a humanitarian (missions) trip with a group of people headed to Kenya in October 2018. I accepted the invitation barring there were no problems with getting my passport renewal and my visa to get into Kenya.
I sent in my passport renewal in March of 2018 and received a new passport back 6 weeks later. They did NOT place the sex offender identifier in my passport. Immediately I was concerned about this and contacted Angel Watch. They never responded back. I was referred by my local sheriff’s department to the guidelines on the DOS / Angel Watch website that simply states that certain sex offenders get the identifier. I figured my offense must not have qualified for the identifier in the passport.
Next, I did as much research as I could to see if there were any accounts of Kenya ever barring a sex offender from entry. Everything I found stated that Kenya allowed entry for sex offenders. I then applied for my Kenyan visa. I was 100% honest on my visa application. I stated I had a felony sex offense and described the offense on the application. One week later my visa for entry into Kenya was approved and emailed to me. Three weeks before my scheduled departure date, I reported the trip to the sheriff’s office in person as required to do as a registered citizen.
On October 15th 2018 I boarded a flight from Tampa to Washington DC. I next boarded a flight in DC to Frankfurt, Germany. I figured if I was going to have a problem this is when it would be when customs scanned my passport before departing the US; I experienced no problems at all. In Frankfurt I boarded my flight for Kenya. In Frankfurt both my US passport and Kenya visa was checked and scanned; no problems.
I landed in Kenya and went through the customs with no problem. They stamped my passport with a Kenyan entry stamp and told me to enjoy my stay. I walked about 20 feet away from the customs desk when the agent called me back over. He inspected my passport and visa a little closer and called over another agent. That agent then took me into an office. When I asked what the problem was they simply told me they had to “verify some things.” They asked me some additional probing questions about who I would be staying with, what I would be doing, pretty standard stuff really. It did not feel like an interrogation. After about 10 minutes sitting in that office, the agent matter-of-factly told me I was denied entry and I would be on the next flight out of Kenya.
I asked some pretty obvious questions like, “Why?” and “Why did you issue me a visa if you were going to deny my entry?” They literally answered all my questions with the exact same answer: “The Kenyan immigration department has decided to deny your entry.” When asked to please speak with the decision maker I was told the decision was made and that was that. Before they got me on the flight, the hosts of the trip pleaded with the person who was assigned to guard me until I got on the plane with no avail.
At no time did I argue, show disrespect, or display anything but a contrite, quite devastated attitude.
When I finally arrived back in the US and went through customs the agent was friendly. He asked about my travels which I told him about. He sympathetically advised me there is nothing wrong with my passport, handed it back to me, apologized, and sent me on my way back into the US.
I would advise against attempting any international travel at this point. It appears that Project Angel Watch / International Megan’s Law will do all they can to have you barred from entry. No longer can you trust the resources that are out there that state which countries allow entry of sex offenders.
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Okay so how do we address the drivers license issue as well as Megan’s international there may be a simple path which will just make it to cotton picking expensive for the state and federal government to place somebody on Megan’s international law as well as place an identifier on somebody’s drivers license. And possibly even play somebody on community notification.
The path is quite simple your reputation and standing in the community are a protected liberty interest as described by United States Supreme Court rulings as laid out in the Hawaii Supreme Court decision in State of Hawaii v Bani that case that went before the Hawaii Supreme Court decided that before a person could be placed on the Hawaii community notification estate had to prove at an individual level that the person at the time of the hearing was in fact a danger to reoffend which meant that every person that was placed on the Hawaii registry have to first go into court and not prove themselves to be no longer a danger but the way it should have been done all along the government had to prove by a preponderance of evidence at the time of the hearing that the person was in fact a danger to reoffend stop and think about it if all 900,000 people before they could be placed on community notification or have their drivers license stamped or have a stamp put on their passport had to have a court hearing. What that would do to the court system I lay this and other information out in an article that I wrote for the SOSEN homepage in August of 2017 you can find that article here http://sosen.org/blog/2017/08/08/international-meagans-law-damages-a-persons-reputation.html
I only see 2 brief references in State of Hawaii v Bani to U.Si Supreme Court decisions, and those were in the early 1970’s. MANY attorneys have already tried those arguments in other states, without success. I doubt that a decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court is going to carry any weight with other courts. Current U.S. Supreme Court law of the land is that sex offender registries are not punishment. That is the fallacy that needs to be successfully challenged. Other states’ courts would hold that it was the acts of the convicted person that damaged his reputation. End of case.
Pretty sure by now that there are some state supreme courts and/or some Federal circuits that have held them to be punishment. Almost positive that that has been the case regarding Michigan and Pennsylvania laws, among other states. And the last time that the Supreme Court held this to be the case, 15 years ago, they were somewhat right. Things have changed, as pointed out in FAC’s ex post facto lawsuit and elsewhere.
FAC, wouldn’t he have an ideal case to put in front of a Federal judge since there is Damages in his case and also a ex post facto situation with the IML? I wish the ACLU would go after IML soon since there are now victims of it,
Amen Brian! Time to really fight for each individual cause. Maybe then we’ll be heard.
Can I clarify one thing? #1-if I move to another state and successful am removed from the registry, but I’m still on Florida, correct? #2-that means I still have to deal with international travel restrictions and password issues, correct? All because Florida is an extremist psychotic group of political a-holes……
Thank you.
You would remain listed on Florida’s registry, but that does not mean you would be required to continue following Florida’s registration laws.
I did send a message the ACLU through their website. I received an auto-generated response back stating they get a lot of correspondence so a reply may not be forthcoming.
I am certainly willing to go the distance should someone be willing to pick the case up.
I contacted the ACLU. The following is a portion of their response:
“At present, we are not addressing the issue of travel limitations imposed by our government or the governments of other countries. There is the potential that this may be addressed in our future work, but as I say, this is not currently part of our focus.”
Here’s something everyone needs to be mindful of (at least when it comes to Florida and our chapters – state and local- of the ACLU, PLUS National!).
The ACLU is currently representing us in our residency restriction challenge. We are (as of today) on day 3 of litigation and there are 3 ACLU attorneys sitting full-time at that trial. They, on our behalf, are flying in expert witnesses and paying fees. Prior to this trial, this case was going on for 4 years (we filed in 2014) and made it to the 11th Circuit (appellate court) and back. I know how much deposition transcripts cost and this case has had dozens of witnesses!
This lawsuit EASILY has cost the ACLU over 6 figures already and has a lot of their staff working on it. We’re not even through trial yet and whoever loses will certainly appeal and there we go again…
In the meantime, the ACLU has election issues, immigration issues, privacy issues, gender rights and other equality issues, etc., etc.
It would be unrealistic to ask for (and expect) the ACLU to tackle more than one issue at a time for us.
You were denied Entry clearly because of the 21 Day Notice. You tried to be a good citizen and follow your country’s absolute Bullshit In-Humane laws, but this is how you get rewarded for ‘doing the right thing’. This should come as No Surprise at this point. Your government is made up of self-serving idiots for the most part. Once you accept this fact then you will realize what ‘Laws’ actually mean.
The Monsters (Lawmakers) that created this Green Notice practice should all be prosecuted and sent to jail where they belong.
Lesson Here: Do NOT report 21 days prior. If it makes you feel any better l, have never been asked upon international re-entry about if I had sent any notice to anyone prior to traveling.
…unless required by law
The author has a sympathetic story. His crime would not have been a crime in some states and probably not Kenya. He did everything he was supposed to and then still lost a lot of money and time. I hope that he and his traveling companions, the other members of that service/mission trip, write their congressional representatives about this. I don’t think they intended for the law to work this way.
I’ve traveled extensively through most of the EU (GB excluded) with all favorable results. The OP mentioned a stop in Germany, and had your ticketed destination been there you’d hav had zero issue as the Europeans ignore green notices and see our SOR as an affront to human rights.
Should you decide to travel in the future to Africa, you should go to Germany first before deciding whether or not to take a side trip to Africa. There’s no crime in deciding to add to or alter your travel plans after you’ve provided notice and exited the USA.
It is entirely reasonable to to change one’s travel itinerary with less than the requires 21 days’ notice. As to whether it’s legal, we might first obtain legal guidance. And I would not automatically assume that it’s, say, illegal but undiscoverable.
I have sometimes been critical of member submissions.
Not this one. It is quite valuable. Thank you, FAC member.
Thank you.
I am honestly just hoping it will prevent someone unnecessarily having to go through a similar expirience.