The California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) recently changed the state’s registration form (CJIS 8102S). In doing so, it added the following sentence: “Federal law requires me to notify my registering agency no less than 21 days before I intend to travel internationally.” “The main problem with the new statement is that it does not accurately reflect current federal law,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. According to a five-page letter sent today by ACSOL, state governments that comply with SORNA are required to demand international travel information from registrants.…
Read MoreTag: HR 515 / International Megans Law
International Megans Law as Compelled Speech
“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).” International Megan’s Law (IML), passed in 2016, prohibits the State Department from issuing passports to individuals convicted of a sex offense against a minor unless those passports are branded with this phrase. The federal government’s decision to brand its citizens’ passports with this stigmatizing message is novel and jarring, but the sole federal district court to consider a constitutional challenge to the passport identifier dismissed…
Read MoreRep. Smith Meets With Trump; Says Int’l Megan’s Law Is Working
Your local congressman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ4) held a press conference with U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao Tuesday, where he talked about the success of his 2008 bill, International Megan’s law. Full Article
Read MoreRep. Chris Smith Speaks About The Dangers Of Human Trafficking
Speaking at at the Borgata hotel in Atlantic City during the week before Thanksgiving, Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ 4, delivered the following speech to hundreds of prosecutors at the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey. … Why International Megan’s Law? We know from law enforcement, academia and media documentation that Americans on the U.S. sex offender registries are frequently caught sexually abusing children in Asia, Central and South America, Europe, and, frankly, everywhere. The inherent secrecy of international travel enables child exploitation. A deeply disturbing 2010 report by the Government…
Read MoreData shows upswing in child exploitation cases
Homeland Security investigators who uncover child exploitation initiated more than 4,000 cases around the world in the 2019 budget year, resulting in thousands of arrests and the identification of more than 1,000 victims, according to new data obtained by The Associated Press. … On Thursday, officials plan to unveil a new center based at ICE’s Washington headquarters tasked with alerting other countries when U.S. sex offenders are traveling there. The new center will include representatives from the U.S. Marshals office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Full Article
Read MorePhilippines: US gives BI pat on the back for blocking 200 American sex offenders
The United States government has commended the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for preventing 200 American registered sex offenders (RSOs) from entering the Philippines in 2018. Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Friday the bureau was recently awarded a certificate of commendation by the US Embassy in Manila after registering the second highest number of excluded American RSOs throughout the world last year. Mexico, which shares a land border with the US in the southwest, recorded the highest number of intercepted RSOs. Full Article
Read MorePhilippines: BI bars 145 convicted sex offenders to PH
The Bureau of Immigration barred 145 foreigners convicted of sex crimes in their home countries from January to November of the 2018. BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said the number of registered sex offenders denied entry is slightly lower than the 165 sex convicts intercepted in the same period of 2017. Full Article
Read MoreOverseas Registrant Wins Battle with Angel Watch Center
A registrant who has lived overseas for more than two years recently won a battle with the Angel Watch Center after the Center falsely notified the State Department that he was currently required to register as a sex offender. As a result of that notification, the registrant’s U.S. passport was revoked because it lacked a “unique identifier”. The registrant, who was traveling on business, learned that his passport had been revoked after a letter was sent to the home of a relative where he had previously resided prior to departing…
Read MoreCase Spotlight: International Travel Notification
In 2011, the Supplemental Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification officially included in SORNA’s standards the obligation that jurisdictions require their registered sex offenders to provide 21 days’ notice of any international travel. However, before International Megan’s Law passed, it was difficult to federally prosecute sex offenders for failing to notify registration officials of intended international travel or relocation. For example, in Nichols v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1113 (2016), the Supreme Court held that a sex offender could not be federally prosecuted for failure to register under…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Three Courts Issue Three Harmful Decisions
In the span of just one week, three courts have issued decisions that significantly harm registrants. Those decisions affect registrants’ marriages, homes and overseas travel. It’s a lot to absorb in a short amount of time. It’s too much to fight at this time. But fight we must in the near future. In the first of those decisions, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals validated a provision of the Adam Walsh Act that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for an individual convicted of a sex offense to sponsor his…
Read MoreFederal District Court Dismisses IML Challenge
A federal district court dismissed the recent IML challenge yesterday when it granted the government’s Motion to Dismiss a legal challenge to the International Megan’s Law (IML). That challenge, filed in January 2018, was based upon alleged violations by the State Department of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). A link to the court’s decision follows below. Due to the court’s decision, the State Department is expected to expand its revocation of existing passports in order to add a “unique identifier” stating that the individual has been convicted of a sex…
Read MoreIML Judge Cancels Hearing on Motion to Dismiss
The federal judge to whom the IML lawsuit was assigned has canceled today’s hearing on the government’s Motion to Dismiss the entire case. According to Judge John F. Walter, he will make a decision based solely upon the documents filed both in support of, and in opposition to, that motion. The judge has no deadline by which he is required to make a decision on the motion. The judge’s decision on the government’s motion will be posted on this website as soon as it is available.
Read MoreIreland and US agree to share travel information of convicted child sex offenders
MINISTER SIMON COVENEY today secured approval to sign a letter of intent with the US to allow the exchange of international travel information of convicted child sex offenders. The approval by Cabinet today will allow An Garda Síochána to sign the letter of intent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations to facilitate the sharing of travel information of sex offenders from the US to Ireland and vice versa. While such information has been shared in the past, this memorandum puts the agreement between the two countries on…
Read MoreIL: Good news. A Win in Illinois!
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 6/15/18] In April, we wrote about an FAC member currently exiled from his home country because of International Megan’s Law. One of our members, who has a decades-old conviction, for which he got probation, left the country 17 years ago and hasn’t come back. He went on to live a good life in this other country, established a business, got married and had three children. In October, his mother fell gravely ill and he returned to see her. When he flew into the country (another state) he did…
Read MorePassport revoked
[narsol.org 4/27/18] By Scott . . . I’m on the board of Illinois Voices for Reform and have been actively involved with the organization since 2012. I am on the registry for life as currently required by Illinois law due to an incident involving a minor back in 2008. I served two years of probation and successfully completed sex offender counseling in 2012. My wife and I love to travel, and we were fortunate to be able to travel to Europe for a week at the end of March. I…
Read MoreState Department Files Motion to Dismiss IML Lawsuit (Updated)
UPDATE 06/07: The date of the IML hearing has been changed from June 25 to July 9 at the government’s request. The State Department today filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit which challenges the International Megan’s Law (IML) on procedural grounds. A hearing on the Motion to Dismiss is scheduled for June 25 in Los Angeles. In its motion, the State Department asserts that its final rule issued in September 2016 is consistent with the IML and that its press release issued in October 2017 that included the language of…
Read MoreIs this a trap? US Marshals Service puts up IML Complaint form
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/24/18] As part of the International Megan’s Law, the US Marshals Service has been notifying receiving countries when a registrant is traveling. You can imagine how the immigration officials in a country you are traveling to will react when they receive a warning from the US Marshals that you are arriving. Travelers have been intercepted upon arrival, interrogated and turned back on the next flight. In most cases, they are denied entry, unable to attend to business, visit family, attend a loved one’s wedding ceremony or simply see the…
Read MoreChild trafficking expert speaks at William and Mary
Mosby is an expert in child trafficking in Thailand and founder of the HUG project, an organization dedicated to helping victims of child trafficking. In 2017 she won the TIP award for her work helping victims of sexual abuse. On Monday, Mosby came to the College of William and Mary to speak with students about child trafficking in Thailand and the steps she and others have taken to prevent it. … The U.S. has also come up with preventative measures to help stop its citizens from committing child sex crimes…
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