Member Submission: IML and stamp on passport
The following was submitted by a member
I obtained a new passport as an RSO in Florida last year just before the new “scarlet letter” law was passed. It contained no mark.
After reading on your website the story about the man detained for just this reason, I re-applied for my passport thinking they would automatically imprint the poison on my new passport. They did not.
So, I filled out a form, DS-5504 and I wrote in the name change section, “registered sex-offender” and I included a letter summarizing my reasons for wanting the correct passport and stating that I should not have to pay again.
Lo and behold, 6 weeks later, I received my shiny new passport WITH the mark of the beast.
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Is there a photo of the passport marking?
IMPORTANT: This is some interesting information.
It seems to me that the member’s post at hand wasn’t originally identified as someone who warranted an identifier. The Angel Watch Center is the government office which the passport office must use to verify status. And the endorsement phrase is …” against a child.” That right there is suspect because such a phrase doesn’t apply to everyone. Also it seems the law is telling the Angel office to “make a determination.” Under what criteria are they deciding a person’s “future threat” is anyone’s guess, but the point here is a determination is being made. As opposed to, “ok he’s on the list. so yes.” So the member’s original determination was no but since he bothered them about it TWICE, i’m sure they went ahead and said, “well if he wants it on there so badly.” LOL ya know? I’m not sure i would’ve been so pushy. No where in the law (andi’ve read it) does it say we MUST tell them. And nowhere on the passport application either. What are we support to do it, tell them verbally over the phone? That’s not how the government works.
This whole thing is SUCH a lawsuit waiting to happen, my god!
Initially created in 2007 by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Operation Angel Watch is managed by the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of the ICE Cyber Crimes Center and is a joint effort with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Operation Angel Watch targets individuals who have been previously convicted of sexual crimes against a child and who may pose a potential new threat: traveling overseas for the purpose of sexually abusing or exploiting minors, a crime known as “child sex tourism.”
Through Operation Angel Watch, HSI uses publicly available sex offender registry information and passenger travel data to strategically alert foreign law enforcement partners through its HSI attaché offices of a convicted child predator’s intent to travel to their country. In Fiscal Year 2015, HSI made over 2,100 notifications to more than 90 countries.
……what are we supposed to do tell them verbally over the phone?
What i’m saying is they are checking everyone and if they “miss it” and process involves them “making a determination” I don’t see any responsibility on my part. My responsibility is to go and and RE-apply if my passport is older than October 2017.
just fyi is all..
great response can i ask you a question you might know the answer to. I will be traveling to eastern Europe in March. My passport had expired so i applied for a new one. On the application it states have you been convicted of a tourist sex crime for which i was not. if it comes back as a normal passport would i be OK to travel with it? im asking because i am laying 6k non refundable down and i don’t want to get to the airport and be turned away at the last minute
my adjudication was withheld and my final paperwork actually states no victims under 18 from the court
If you are not registered as a Sex Offender and on the Sex Offender Registry, then you have nothing to worry about. Fill out the application honestly as you can and they will do the rest. It my OPINION as it is obvious to me that they are checking every application and making the decision since there is no place on the application to indicate any information regarding status as a sex offender. Therefore our duty is to have a current passport as of October 31, 2017 on. HOWEVER, since you there is a question in your mind then I would have at the ready, on your person a piece of official paperwork signed by a judge or state official proving your status – whatever that may be. For example, I am on the registry in Florida, but do not have to register in the state in which I currently reside. I have a court document to prove exactly signed by my resident state’s Registry official folded in my wallet and another copy in my glove compartment just in case I need to prove to a police officer pulling me over for a ticket who starts claiming i have to register in my current state.
****I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
Passports and International Megan’s Law (contact email at bottom)
The passport identifier provision of International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders (IML) (Public Law 114-119) went into effect on October 31, 2017.
The IML prohibits the Department of State from issuing a passport to a covered sex offender without a unique identifier, and it allows for the revocation of passports previously issued to these individuals that do not contain the identifier (22 USC 212b).
The identifier is a passport endorsement, currently printed inside the back cover of the passport book, which reads: “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212b(c)(l).” Since endorsements cannot be printed on passport cards, covered sex offenders cannot be issued passport cards.
Only the DHS/ICE Angel Watch Center (AWC) can certify an individual as a “covered sex offender.” Therefore, any questions by the applicant about such status must be directed to and resolved by AWC.
Applicants who have questions for AWC regarding their status or believe they have been wrongly identified as a covered sex offender as defined in Title 22 United States Code 212b(c)(1) should contact AWC at [email protected].
My passport has been expired for a little over a decade. I hardly even look like my photo on there now. Someday I would like to do some light traveling to places friendly to registrants, but there is no way I’m putting that discriminatory badge on my passport. Hopefully the courts can see this for what it is and strike it down some time soon.
My passport has no mark as I was witheld adjudication no felony. The fed recognized no conviction so no mark even though I’m a registrant in Florida.
Have you traveled anywhere with your passport yet?
i had the same adjudication withheld and on my final paperwork it states no victims under 18. I am getting my new passport back in a couple weeks and i want to make sure if it is not marked with the IML stamp that i wont be held up in traveling to Europe in March
How do you know this? According to IML, it applies to anyone who is registered in any state. Just curious because I am in the same situation.
Thanks for this info. Are you absolutely sure that your adjudication withhold is recognized by the Feds as a “non-conviction” that prevents them from marking your passport?
how do you know this for sure ? I am in same boat, adj withheld, I thought this was based on the federal S/O list, conviction not required
Great job!!
I have a passport…doubt I’ll ever use it…but if the ‘system’ wants to make any changes on it, they will have to contact me; I will not contact them.
Be careful.. this could be a non compliance issue if you become under investigation.
The first step in compliance is in their ‘court’, not mine. Let the bureaucrats figure it out.