Can't Run, Can't Hide! Child Sex Offenders Will Be Called Out On Their Passports

Photo by Joey Foley/Getty Images

Child Sex Offenders traveling abroad will now need updated passports identifying them as predators.

America’s registered child sex offenders will have to throw those old passports away and reapply for a new passport that includes “unique identifier” of their status. This notice will be printed on the inside, back cover and state: “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and is a covered sex offender pursuant to (U.S. law).”

Does that mean sex offenders will no longer be able to travel overseas? NOPE.

Registered sex offenders with current passports can continue to travel until officially revoked. The State Department will notify those affected when it receives their names from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security – the agency responsible for identifying child sex offenders.

And, any registered sex offender can continue to travel lawfully as long as they reapply and have the printed identifier.

Why are we just doing this now? Our thoughts exactly!

Last year, the statute “International Megan’s Law” passed the House and the Senate and the directives outlined in the statute are starting to take effect. It’s authors designed the statute to help eliminate child exploitation and child sex tourism by providing advanced notice of traveling sex offenders. The law itself was named after the tragic story of Megan Kanka, the 7-year-old girl murdered by a previously convicted child sex offender in Hamilton, NJ in 1994.

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