A new piece of federal legislation (HR 5150), if passed and signed into law, would expand the reach of the International Megan’s Law (IML). The new legislation was introduced by the original author of the IML, Rep. Chris Smith (Republican, NJ), as well as Rep. Karen Bass (Democrat, CA).
The provisions of the legislation regarding the IML are a very small part of the 92-page bill which claims to be aimed at preventing and protecting victims of trafficking. The IML provisions would expand the scope of the IML by extending it to U.S. citizens who reside overseas.
“As currently written, the IML requirement to add a unique identifier to the passport of an individual convicted of a sex offense involving a minor (under 18) does not apply to most individuals who live outside the United States,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Section 201 of HR 5150 would change that by adding the unique identifier to the passports of individuals who have moved or otherwise reside outside the United States.”
The unique identifier is a statement added to a passport stating that the individual has been convicted of a sex offense involving a minor. The statement does not include specific information such as the age of the victim or when the conviction took place. It has been reported that some registrants whose passports include a unique identifier have been denied entry into a country.
“We must oppose Section 201 of HR 5150,” stated Bellucci. “Registrants, family members and supports should contact the member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represents the district in which they live in order to oppose that section of the bill.”
HR 5150 also includes a provision that requires the U.S. government to obtain twice a year information from “each country participating in the visa waiver program” a list of individuals in that country who have been convicted of a sex offense and/or required to register as a sex offender. The U.S. government may, but is not required to, share similar information with those countries.
What’s next will registrants who reside overseas be forced back to the United States? Hotel California has gone global and with members all about protecting children I can see this passing. Here we go again it’s time to drop the hammer on Rep Chris Smith’s brainless bills. How is this even memorable to Megan Kanka?
Hmmm, 🤔 This is odd. If a U.S. citizen has permanently relocated to another country, then I would assume he has notified the U.S. state where he had previously been living that he will no longer be registering with them because he has permanently moved out of state. So, unless he was registered in N.Y. or Florida (where he’d be on their registries forever), he would therefore have been removed from their registry. Isn’t IML for individuals who both: (1) must register (2) due to an offense involving a minor. So if he permanently moves out of country, then he no longer registers anywhere, so #1 above is no longer valid, so IML would no longer apply to him.
Am I mistaken or misunderstanding?
Also, “HR 5150 also includes a provision that requires the U.S. government to obtain twice a year information from “each country participating in the visa waiver program” a list of individuals in that country who have been convicted of a sex offense and/or required to register as a sex offender.”
So – reading between the lines here – the U.S. will soon start banning entry to those convicted of a sex offense in a foreign country? That’s a bit curious, since other countries have varying age of consent laws as well as sexual offense laws regarding rape, child molestation, CP, etc. Homosexuality, sodomy and oral sex are certainly illegal in some countries, though not in the U.S., but we would ban entry to individuals convicted of those non-(U.S.)-offenses? 🤔
🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹
So, once again, Chris (and a Karen) are attempting to create a solution to what is likely a non-existent problem. This is becoming remarkably ridiculous! 🙄
Can someone please remind me: Have any of these asshats proposed anything that would prevent a sexual offense BEFORE it occurs? Because sexual offenses continue to occur and new individuals are constantly being added to the Registries. So where are the real efforts at preventing/precluding offenses from occurring?? Preventative counseling programs, for example. Instead, we are wasting millions in taxpayer dollars on incrementally increasing punishment with no genuine prevention efforts. It’s truly ridiculous! 🤷🏻♂️
Lawmakers sure love to get their jollies by kicking and spitting on us registrants, but none of them are proposing a damn thing that will stop sexual offending (and also bring an end to their own insufferable pandering). 😡
This thing will be passed behind close doors, in haste and not open for comments. Biden will sign it, after all he needs something that is bi-partisan.
How interesting that Karen Bass, who pandered to her constituency as being ‘inspired’ by the civil rights movement, would help oppress about one million “Registered Sex Offenders.” It’s quite disturbing that the Democrats seem to be joining forces with the Republicans in ramping up the heat against Registered Sex Offenders. It’s also disturbing that in addition to having about one million Registered Sex Offenders in the United States, one-third of America’s population have some sort of criminal record, and America has the largest incarcerated population compared to China, Russia, and even North Korea, measured by both total population and per capita. Then this country has the audacity to call itself the “Land of the Free.”
I think this proves that we have incompetent, short-sighted, politicians in “leadership” positions.
We deserve better leadership. Unfortunately, there aren’t many smart, forward-thinking, people who seek political office.
This has all become so ridiculous. If it was not so draconian and hateful it would be laughable. How do we defend against such zealotry and hate? I have been trying to take the step to leave this country and looks like I better move up my plans. Just have to figure out how to afford it.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to pass any legislation by anybody who supported the capitol insurrection. My guess is Chris Smith is in that category.
Does the new language apply to those no longer required to register? It would have to because once you leave the U.S. one is no longer “required” to register.
This is to ensure that you can’t escape the label by permanently leaving the U.S. Its retribution at its finest.
Does anyone else see the irony in the Bill’s designated number? 5150 is police code for a person not in control of facilities. In other words ….CRAZY! which Smith is
Times like this I wish I practiced Voodoo and had a Chris Smith doll giving him a pain in the ass for being an ass.
We need to stop Rep Chris Smith from passing the bill, and the IML violates the Constitution and violates human rights of American citizens, his claim of how the IML is working well to diminished human trafficking is fallacious.
Passport identifiers for people convicted of crimes involving a minor, dose that mean when Harvey Weinstein gets out of prison he won’t have the sex offender identifier on his passport.
I came to the realization along time ago when I was 18 that I’ll probably never be able to leave the country and honestly I don’t care my fights here in America I want revenge for the 21 years they stole from me.
Good luck
After reading this and cogitating on it, this could work into PFR favor in court, I think. While I don’t want this to pass into law because of the evil intent behind it, and POTUS does not know what the hell he is signing into law anyway as show by his reckless signatures since Jan 20, by framing this the way these two knuckleheads have, they are now grouping an entire set of people (not a class because it cannot be a class) into being forced to have a statement in the passport and not extending it to others who have been convicted. This last part is the hook I believe that could get the attention of the courts….not extending it to others who have been convicted.
We know the stamp is not getting a lot of attention by those here who have shared their experiences, so harm is negligible and not a useful avenue in court, but the singling out of those convicted of a sex offense and not others who are convicted of a crime who travel/live overseas is possibly the avenue to get this struck down.
I know we’ve discussed Equal Protection Clause here, but with the possible expansion of this stamp in this manner could make it viable to be reviewed in the courts.
How many countries have low life expectancies, so wouldn’t the age of marriage be different than here? Just because it’s icky in the United States of Judgement doesn’t mean it’s icky globally. This country needs to stop being the world’s policemen, bully, and hypocritical.
This was what I sent my legislator:
Dear Representative,
I write to ask your support in opposing HR 5150.
I know this is asking you to take a very bold stand. It is easy to vote “Yes” on legislation that adds more punishment to those who have committed sex offenses because nobody wants to be viewed as soft on sex offenders.
However, you must be aware that African Americans are disproportionately swept up on our nations sex offense registries (Ackerman & Sacks, 2018). Even in 2021, our society still regards most African American men as predators, lurking in the shadows to “violate our women and daughters”.
Our current SOR laws do more than target African American men. They paint all offenders with the same brush. Approximately 200,000 people on sex offender registries were placed on the registries for crimes they committed as children.
Before we add yet another layer of punishment for sex offenses, I urge you to ask whether we are hitting the right target. Does empirical evidence support the emotional desire to punish? Are the registries actually preventing offenses, or are we merely creating a “feel good” response that actually does more harm than good?
If you feel you must vote “Yes” on this legislation, I urge you to demand accountability. What is the specific problem this legislation is seeking to resolve, and how will you measure whether it succeeds or fails?
Consider the diplomacy of IML. THEN consider this article about france pulling agents from US and others over a seemingly unrelated topic. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/france-recalls-ambassadors-to-u-s-australia-over-sub-deal/ar-AAOyK4Z?ocid=AMZN
Also consider the outcome from advertising sex offenders on a world wide scale.
Wait ! Does the government own us?? Am i there property? I understand if i live in your house its yours rules, but this seems like a civil and human rights issue to me. What do we have to do, rescind our citizenship to be free from the tyranny? What happen to the Gov. “shale not impede our travel” its in our constitution.Hate to say it, but this country is on a slippery slope to communism.
⭐⭐ Update?⭐⭐
Hi all. Is there any news or update about this proposed legislation??
Thanks for any information! 👍🏻
Let’s be honest, once you have left the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, the United States can cry and whine all they want.
They lack both personal and subject matter jurisdiction.
The US Supreme Court already ruled once a person moves to a foreign country, they are not legally required to update their status.
Because as they pointed out, they have no jurisdiction.
End of story.
Government can really upset the balance of nature. Nobody owns anyone in this IML. Sure governments have their “Pride” but all governments seem to want to do it their way and out do the other. Its a shame that many are caught up in this entanglement. One government wants to be better than the other. Same as people. So who is true? Just like one law firm wants to be better than the other firm. One wonders about Constitutional Justice today.
This IML is more of a downfall of American Justice and Government. Sure there is ethical problems, black listings, and emotional damaging, but government is overriding their bounderies in unethical ways – but what do I know. One wonders if “In God we trust” is the wooden nickle in everyone’s pocket today or does man’s devices go a bit too far.
I am glad to see Janice and many other advocate’s striving to correct much of this IML and this registry of ill repute.
So, question for clarification purposes with some background.
I have a passport with no identifier and have never been contacted by the Feds to exchange it. I’m due to come off the state registry in August 2023. My passport is due to renew in 2025.
Will I receive a passport at that time with an identifier even though I’ll no longer be ‘covered’? Or will I have any other issues with international travel post removal from my state registry?
TIA for your help all.
Nothing seems to have happened to this bill yet, HR 5150. Is that a good sign or is that just a normal slow pace of bills like these?
Can someone explain IML to me again? Do all PFRs have to give the 21 dat notice, or only those whose offense involved a minor?