The notice, which will appear on the second-to-last page of U.S. passports, is officially known as an “endorsement,” but it is more like a badge of shame. “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor,” it says, “and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212b(c)(l).”
The scary notation, which was revealed this week, is the State Department’s response to a 2016 law requiring that the passports of certain registered sex offenders include a “unique identifier” to help maintain their status as pariahs wherever they travel. Although the warning is supposedly aimed at stopping sexual predators from abusing children in other countries, it will mark the passports of many people who pose no such threat. Full Article
The US will invite in hundreds of thousands of foreign criminals and zealots that pose a risk to US citizens, yet I can’t go on vacation to drink cheap beers and hike through the mountains.
If the US government were as worried about national security as they are about me going on holiday, then perhaps we wouldn’t have trucks plowing over Americans through the streets. Maybe they could worry about what happens to our own population more and less about whether I might actually get a modicum of enjoyment in my remaining years instead of trying to make me miserable enough to eat a bullet.
USA, worry more about immigration and less about the emigration of citizens you despise anyhow. It’s for the children!
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A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying the IML easily passes the “rational basis” test. “Under rational basis review,” she explained, “a law ‘may be overinclusive, underinclusive, illogical, and unscientific and yet pass constitutional muster.'”
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Ummmm….
Chris Smith like all republicans, and arguably more despicably, New Democrats, do not care about justice, or what is right.
I am hoping Ms. Auckerman, Michigan ACLU, will take this on next. It would seem logical to assume the 6th would find this unconstitutional based on Smith V Doe.
When it comes to “sex offenders” no one cares about what’s right and wrong. In many cases, many people agree that more punishment is almost always justified. That’s how we end up with these Scarlet Letter marks on passports. Another result of more punishment: Junk sciences like the Static-99, Static-99R, and polygraph. Speaking of which, here is a good video exposing the polygraph as junk science:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nyDMoGjKvNk
Great article.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Our belongings already got the mark! I just learned the hard way that there was an NCIC “Hit” on my vehicle which caused DMV almost not allow me to register my vehicle. They had to get “cleared” by CHP here in California.
Apparently, California DOJ has decided to force registering officers to add an NCIC flag on vehicle registrations so that when the plates are run, it comes up with the NCIC hit. My concern is this will lead to harassment by law enforcement. It has already caused me trouble. CA DOJ sent out the update to all the officers sometime within the last 2-3 months.
EVERY VEHICLE OPERATED BY A REGISTRANT NOW HAS OR WILL SOON HAVE THE NCIC FLAG.
I was told it was in case I drive my vehicle by the schools or parks, they would be able to know if a sex offender was potentially trying to lure children.
You can’t even begin to describe how angry I am at the level of defamation against me and fellow law abiding, registered citizens. I tried to leave a message with Janice and with Chance but no response from either yet. This issue MUST BE ADDRESSED.
This is pathetic. These overpaid, disgraceful lawmakers that push laws like this clearly have no real work to do, so they have so much free time to pass laws based on a problem that has proved to have “10 convictions per year” in a country of over 350 Million people. Should we be more angry at the misguided lawmaker that started this bill and demand his resignation? Or the people who voted for this law? How about the millions of idiots of the public that keep voting for Democrats or Republicans and perpetuating the endless two-party Nazi regime that can afford to extort US citizen’s hard earned money so that they can pass pointless laws like this that destroy Freedoms and waste millions of tax dollars? STOP VOTING FOR THE SAME TWO PARTIES, because this Nazi regime, which is 100% what it has become, will never end. Do you people not see how Brainwashed you are? Vote for a 3RD PARTY, especially one that wants to cut the size of the government. You think this regime can afford to keep stupid laws like SORNA and IML if the government’s budget is cut by 20% across the board to increase efficiency and remove waste? Not a chance.
This unique identifier on passports is going to endanger lives, this must be challenged. The notion that registrants whose conviction was sexual crime against a child such as possession of cp that are at risk, is like the Bush administration saying Iraq has weapons of mass destruction just to scare people and to go to war. How do you refute the fallacies about registrants whose crime was against a child being a risk to the public?
We need to get all persons making laws removed from office if they are supported heavily by law enforcement. Call it severe conflict of interest. We need to hold churches and religious organizations accountable for upholding/practicing what they preach. WE have more power than we are realize. Just ENGAGE a little where you are and see!
First they came for the Communist, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Gays, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not Gay.
Then they came for the Muslims, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not Muslim.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
My question is how is thisbgoing to affect those of us living outside of the country already? This makes me not want to travel anymore or even renew my passport until I have permanent residence
What sense does it make for registered citizens to go through the notification process for travel, only to find out later when they arrive at a foreign destination that they can’t be allowed in, sent back and given extra scrutiny and explaining to CBP at US Customs inspections about being sent back and their past conviction, while officials in the media are saying that registrants are not being prevented from traveling?