All articles about HR 515 in one place
Added February 8
An important step to reduce child sex tourism – Rep. Smith Editorial [Washington Post]
As principal author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 — a landmark law combatting sex- and labor-trafficking at home and abroad — I am deeply concerned that the United States has not done enough to address the rape and sexual abuse of children by convicted pedophiles who travel in secret to countries where child sex tourism thrives. Full Editorial
***
The Long Arm of Sex Offender Laws [Al Jazeera America]
***
Pres. Obama: Resist Signing the International Megan’s Law [FreeRange Kids (Lenore Skenazy)]
Who here is in favor of sex trafficking?
Didn’t think so. Me neither. You can be against that crime without using it for political grandstanding and cruel policies. But not, apparently, if you are in the U.S. Congress. Full Editorial
***
Bill to mark sex offender passports raises ire of criminal justice advocacy group [Washington Times]
A criminal justice advocacy group is prepared to sue the federal government if President Obama signs into law a measure requiring child-sex offenders to be identified as such on their passports — a move they say is as hypocritical for a president pushing for broad criminal justice reform. Full Article (with Janice Bellucci quote)
***
Passport marking for sex offenders would achieve nothing [Monterey Herald]
There’s a lot that Congress is unwilling or unable to do, but it still can achieve one thing – finding a heavy-handed solution in search of a problem. Full Article
***
Congress Votes to Add Controversial “Scarlet Letter” to Passports of Sex Offenders [mic.com]
On Monday, Congress passed a bill in the hopes of ending child exploitation, sex trafficking and other sex crimes. That goal itself is one to which few would find reason to object — but the bill’s critics are wary of the method, not the means. Full Article
***
Added February 3
Do sex offenders deserve a scarlet letter on their passport? [Los Angeles Times]
After rousing themselves from the 30-plus-year bad trip that was the war on drugs — or rather, the war on drug users — many Americans in and out of elected office looked around for someone else to persecute. Someone, somewhere, must be so depraved and hateful that liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans could join in common cause to vilify them. Full Editorial
***
Congress votes to stigmatize and surveil the travel of second-class US citizens [Papers, Please]
Can second-class US citizens be required to carry second-class US passports with a conspicuous stigmatizing “scarlet letter” label? Congress has now said yes. Full Article
***
Obama Could Still Stop ‘Megan’s Law’ From Making Sex Offenders Get Special Passports [Reason]
Both the U.S. House and Senate have signed off on a bill to brand registered sex offenders as such on their passports and require federal officials to notify foreign governments whenever certain offenders intend to travel there. The bill is now on its way to President Obama; it’s unclear whether he’ll sign. Full Article
***
House sends human trafficking prevention bill to Obama [The Hill]
The House easily cleared legislation on Monday to expand efforts within the Department of Homeland Security to track registered child sex offenders’ travel plans as a means of combatting human trafficking. Full Article
***
Senators Kirk, Shelby, Mikulski, & Representative Chris Smith Applaud Passage of International Megan’s Law [eNews Park Forest]
WASHINGTON –(ENEWSPF)–February 2, 2016. U.S. Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.-04) today applauded House passage of H.R. 515, introduced by Congressman Chris Smith, which puts International Megan’s Law on the President’s desk for signature. H.R. 515 passed the Senate in December 2015. S.1867, the Senate companion bill, was introduced by Senators Kirk, Shelby and Mikulski. –Full Article
***
Bill that would make it harder for sex offenders to travel abroad heads to Obama’s desk [Lawyer Herald]
The U.S. House of Representatives have finally cleared on Monday a bill requiring the government to notify foreign governments when convicted sex offenders travel abroad. The legislation, named the International Megan’s Law, will soon arrive on President Barack Obama’s desk to be signed into law. Full Article
***
==== earlier articles =====
http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398682 (Rep. Chris Smith)
http://www.majorityleader.gov/2016/02/01/house-passes-megans-law-to-keep-our-children-safe/ (Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy
http://cramer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/cramer-house-approves-international-megans-law Rep. Cramer, ND
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/bill-make-harder-sex-offenders-travel-abroad-36649663
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/02/house_passes_rep_smiths_international_megans_law.html
According to the Chris Smith website, this bill will “Collect notification response data to understand which countries are working with the U.S. on preventing re-offense by child predators;”
What does this mean? If a country thinks this is absurd or violates its own laws and values, and let’s a registered American in, then the US is going to do what?
Put that country on a list of non-compliant countries?
Withhold US aid?
Call them evil?
When did the US begin to think the rest of the world are its children and it is the world’s parent and guardian?
This is absurd.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-0203-sex-offenders-20160203-story.html
There is a “new” article published in The Washington Times newspaper which is traditionally conservative. The link to that article is below. The reporter interviewed me this morning and did a good job capturing what I said. We are also expecting an Op-Ed to be published in The Washington Post this week and will add that as soon as it becomes available. With articles like these, it will be hard for the President to ignore the fact that HR 515 is historically significant and that he has a choice to make regarding his legacy – join the ranks of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia or defend the U.S. Constitution.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/3/bill-to-mark-sex-offender-passports-raises-ire-of-/
These laws are all centered on preventing recidivism by individuals who are already subject to sex offense laws, rather than about actually preventing sex abuse. Science shows that the number of sex abuse cases by recidivists are about 4%. We need to educate people (who may have been victims) about the psychological tendencies to reenact their own past traumas and what the signs are that they may be grooming a victim. No one talks about those patterns.
This is a 2 year old blog by someone who experienced it with his contact at the bottom. but interesting and relevant never the less.
http://fimafimovich.blogspot.com/2014/10/discrimination-of-soviet-jews-and.html
Wow – that Monterey Herald article is really well argued. That might be a good one to send friends, relatives, and other journalists.
I wanted to comment on the Monterey Herald article, saying that existing law already curtails the travel of people who have been convicted of actual sex trafficking and sex tourism – and that this legislation is just government overreach and political grandstanding of the worst kind.
Unfortunately, I already have a Disqus account that uses my real name (set up a while back) and current email address. I don’t want to use that one and I don’t want to start setting up other accounts. I’ll figure something out but I’m trying to balance anonymity with the desire to speak out on these issues.
They don’t care, they are trying to eradicate us by any means they can get away with. Like destroying our families so we can’t reproduce… And when we do, they strip our children away saying we are a danger even though we have already finished our time and haven’t committed a new crime in almost 10 years. This scarlet letter is simply its new idea on how to tourcher us with the law. The US is really just a bully that thrives off of picking on anything they can get the people behind to hate. Its always been this way ever since the first settlers landed. First they hated the Indians, then for a loooong time it was black people, then the war on drugs and now us. The US needs someone to hate and ridicule in order to function.
Yesterday they stripped my wife and I of our parental rights simply because I have a record and my wife wouldn’t leave me. Now she no longer has the right to see her own baby, when nothing has ever been done to her. Their entire argument was that I was a danger to our child, despite numerous psych evaluations saying that I am not. My wife they claimed failed to protect our daughter because she didn’t divorce me. Well they have won, they got everything they wanted. They took our perfect daughter away, and now I am going to lose my wife as well. Now they don’t want me to leave? Its only because its harder for them to torture me if I go to another country. A country where they don’t believe is ripping a child away from a mother when she has done nothing wrong.
Look, I’m sorry everyone, I am just in an abundance of pain… My apologies…
This atrocious thing was presented to the President today.
Please add comments to Smith’s Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHepol0MS6A
Also, please click the thumbs down.
I wonder if it might be more effective, instead of trying to block the President signing this law, and I believe he will, would be to instead try to make this law apply to all felons, that ALL US-Convicted felons have their passports marked as such. I do not think hosting nations want an arsonist, murderer or ID thief in their nation anymore than a sex offender. Especially with the dangerously high recidivism rate of those types of criminals.
Equal protection might apply tangentially here, maybe, not sure. but if a sex offender presents the danger of predictive future crimes based on past statistics, then surely all the other criminals present just as much of a predictive future danger.
We can then encourage hosts of American travelers to assume that all Americans are sex offenders, since the FBI states only 16% have been caught. That means that host nations should start to assume that all Americans are child molesters and rapists, just to be safe and to protect their children. If just one child is protected by assuming all American travelers are sex criminals, then the cost is worth it.
There is nothing stopping all sex offenders and their families from contacting the nations of the world to warn them of the massive amount of undetected sex criminals and other criminals from the US that might in their nations and that they should do what is required to protect their kids and their people. If a few hundred thousand sex offenders start emailing and writing the leaders of other nations and warn them of this very real danger, it will get someone’s attention.
I should file a petition with the UN after this passes. Eh, what can it hurt? Thing is, I haven’t traveled and experience firsthand the effects of this so called Angel Watch. Maybe I should get a passport after this passes and try to travel, for evidence?
I found this article in a couple of places. It appears things are progressing however slowly:
http://www.newswest9.com/story/31160703/more-than-20-texas-town-repeal-sex-offender-residency-law
I hope someone is writing a respond to Chris Smith’s editorial.
Excellent Al Jazerra article. It talks about supreme court cases that it’s a fundamental right to travel but the government can restrict travel ……BUT:
“However, in each of these cases, the passport ban is only in effect until the individual in question has settled their legal issues.”
In our case it’s LIFETIIME with no chance to “settle our legal issues” i.e…no due process.
News out of Washington DC is not good – IML was signed into law by the President today :(. I hope this is wrong information but expect we will see it reflected soon on the news wires.
Yes looks like he signed it today …
So very disappointing.
Mr Obama,
With your signing of H.R. 515 (International Megan’s Law), your legacy is tarnished. You have shown that you do not hold strong values for civil rights. You have proven that will waver in favor of politics. You are no better than racists and segregationists of the past, Well, I thought you were better than that. But you are like the rest, and I am now sorry I voted for you. Enjoy your ‘legacy’ of supporting the concept of the ‘second class citizen’ and the destruction of families that ‘don’t matter’ – all because it is politically expedient. You knew this was the wrong thing to do. I am devastated.
President Obama signed HR 515 into law on February 8. The law will require federal agencies to notify destination countries that registered citizens are coming to visit as well as to require the Secretary of State to add a “unique identifier” to the passports of some registered citizens.
“The President’s decision, if unchallenged, would require the Secretary of State to add a Scarlet Letter to the passports of hundreds of thousands of American citizens,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “Therefore a lawsuit has been prepared and will be filed on February 9 challenging the International Megan’s Law.”
The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court, San Francisco, on behalf of four registered citizens. The lawsuit alleges that International Megan’s Law violates several provisions in the U.S. Constitution including the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the equal protection and ex facto clauses. Subsequent to filing of the lawsuit, an application for a Preliminary Injunction will be filed which, if granted, would stop the law from being implemented.
Everyone go have a beer and take a deep breath. I am hoping this is the start of the dismantling of the registry. Deep down I want to believe Obama knows this is so overboard that he wants to see this go to the courts…one can dream.
Seriously though, now what’s the difference between the registry and parole/probation?
There is no difference. It is punishment. Period.
CA RSOL lawsuit in Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/civil-rights-group-sex-offender-passports-marking-state-department-424754
I hope you all can help me, I have been trying to find out how to move to washington from california. I am a 290. What is it that I have to do to makw thw move legal. I wont be a transiet if that helps I have an address I can move to when I get there. The laws are way to confusing for me to understand what ai haveto do. Thank you