Passports and International Megan's Law
Newsroom / OCTOBER 30, 2017
On February 8, 2016, Congress enacted the International Megan's Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders (IML) (Public Law 114-119).
The IML prohibits the Department of State from issuing a passport to a covered sex offender without a unique identifier, and it allows for the revocation of passports previously issued to these individuals that do not contain the identifier (22 USC 212b).
The identifier is a passport endorsement, currently printed inside the back cover of the passport book, which reads: “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).” Since endorsements cannot be printed on passport cards, covered sex offenders cannot be issued passport cards.
Only the DHS/ICE Angel Watch Center (AWC) can certify an individual as a “covered sex offender.” Therefore, any questions by the applicant about such status must be directed to and resolved by AWC.
Applicants who have questions for AWC regarding their status or believe they have been wrongly identified as a covered sex offender as defined in Title 22 United States Code 212b(c)(1) should contact AWC at [email protected].
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/news/passports-international-megans-law.html
Comments
James Reply
Posted Feb 02, 2023 at 16:16:33
How is this not a violation of the 14th Amendment? If someone commits a crime and are convicted of that crime, (felony), then why are murderer’s, drug offenders, thieves, etc, not included in having identifiers in the back of their passports? Wouldn’t an identifier in the back of a drug offender’s passport assist the receiving country in bringing closer scrutiny to the offender upon departure from their country, to ensure they aren’t smuggling illegal narcotics? This is absurd that this relates to only one classification of offender.
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