Both chambers of Congress have passed a bill to allow federal government to monitor the international movements of registered sex offenders. The bill, titled “International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders,” H.R. 515, would require a unique passport identifier for all registered sex offenders.

The passport identifier would be one of several actions to track sex offenders. The bill would also establish the “Angel Watch Center” to monitor sex offenders attempting to enter or exit the United States. The Angel Watch Center would be responsible for determining if travelers are registered as sex offenders at least 48 hours before their departure, and reporting relevant information to the Department of Justice and other appropriate agencies. It would provide advanced notice to the destination countries of outgoing sex offenders, and receive notifications from other countries.

Lastly, the bill would require sex offenders to report all international travel information to sex offender registries. Failure to do so would be punishable by a fine, up to ten years of imprisonment, or both.

Background

“Megan’s Law” is a 1996 law to encourage states to monitor the activities of sex offenders. It was passed as a response to the 1994 murder of Megan Kanka, in which the victim and her family were unaware of their neighbor’s record of sexual assault. According to H.R. 515 “the International Labour Organization has estimated that 1,800,000 children worldwide are victims of child sex trafficking and pornography each year.” The intention of “International Megan’s Law” is to create global protections from child exploitation.

According to the House Republicans’ bill page, the computer system “Operation Angel Watch” is already being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to prevent child predators from traveling to countries known for child sex tourism. “In fiscal year 2014, ICE provided notice of travel from the U.S. of approximately 2,300 convicted child sex offenders to over 120 countries.”

There is still some controversy over the bill. An opinion piece in the Washington Post titled “The yellow star, the scarlet letter, and ‘International Megan’s Law” argues against the proposed passport identification. “It is, as far as I can determine, the first time in U.S. history that any such special designation will appear on the passports of any U.S. citizens, and I think it should send at least a small chill down all of our spines,” the article says.