Sex-offender stamp on passports upheld after legal challenge

A federal judge in Oakland, Ca., ruled Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, against a challenge to a new federal law that requires that the legal status of registered sex offenders be stamped on their passports. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) less A federal judge in Oakland, Ca., ruled Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, against a challenge to a new federal law that requires that the legal status of registered sex offenders be stamped on their passports. (AP ... more Photo: THANASSIS STAVRAKIS, AP Photo: THANASSIS STAVRAKIS, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Sex-offender stamp on passports upheld after legal challenge 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A Bay Area federal judge says the rights of registered sex offenders will not be violated by a new U.S. law that will stamp their legal status on their passports to notify the governments of countries they visit.

The statute, known as the International Megan’s Law and signed by President Obama in February, was largely directed at sex traffickers. It requires the State Department to mark the passports of all registered offenders who have been convicted of sex crimes involving minors.

Seven unnamed sex offenders challenged the law, saying it would place them on an international “blacklist” and expose them to harassment and physical harm for past offenses that had nothing to do with sex trafficking. One man said he would probably be killed when he returns to his native Iran to receive an inheritance if his passport bears a sex-offender stamp.

On Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of Oakland said the offenders’ lawsuit was premature because the State Department has not yet adopted regulations to implement the law. But Hamilton also said the law, when it takes effect, will be a legitimate measure to protect children from sexual exploitation.

The government has an interest in “preventing U.S. persons from committing acts of sexual abuse or exploitation in other countries and in facilitating cooperation with and reciprocal notifications from other countries” whose residents travel to the United States, Hamilton said.

She noted that the U.S. government already notifies any foreign country where a registered child sex offender plans to travel, and issued 2,100 such notifications last year. Stamps on passports lets host countries know when an offender changes previous travel plans, Hamilton said.

The plaintiffs also argued that the law unfairly stigmatizes offenders whose crimes may have been committed decades ago. While California requires most convicted sex offenders to register for life, most other states drop the requirement if an offender can show rehabilitation after a certain number of years. The federal law, however, would require passport stamps for those offenders as well.

But Hamilton said the U.S. Supreme Court “has already found that any stigma associated with convictions for sex offenses is a product of the sex offenders’ prior conviction and cannot be attributed to sex-offender registration and notification laws.”

Janice Bellucci, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said she disagreed with the ruling and planned to file a new suit, with different plaintiffs and in a different court, once the law takes effect.

“Our U.S. federal government is telling other countries that the person they’ve just marked on the passport is likely to engage in child sex trafficking or child sex tourism,” a message that is both stigmatizing and dangerous, Bellucci said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko