[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4573 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4573
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 21, 2014
Received
December 11, 2014
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To protect children from exploitation, especially sex trafficking in
tourism, by providing advance notice of intended travel by registered
child-sex offenders outside the United States to the government of the
country of destination, requesting foreign governments to notify the
United States when a known child-sex offender is seeking to enter the
United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``International
Megan's Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Angel Watch Center.
Sec. 5. Sense of Congress provisions.
Sec. 6. Enhancing the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking.
Sec. 7. Assistance to foreign countries to meet minimum standards for
the elimination of trafficking.
Sec. 8. Rules of Construction.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Megan Nicole Kanka, who was 7 years old, was abducted,
sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1994, in the State of New
Jersey by a violent predator living across the street from her
home. Unbeknownst to Megan Kanka and her family, he had been
convicted previously of a sex offense against a child.
(2) In 1996, Congress adopted Megan's Law (Public Law 104-
145) as a means to encourage States to protect children by
identifying the whereabouts of sex offenders and providing the
means to monitor their activities.
(3) In 2006, Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child
Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-248) to
protect children and the public at large by establishing a
comprehensive national system for the registration and
notification to the public and law enforcement officers of
convicted sex offenders.
(4) Law enforcement reports indicate that known child-sex
offenders are traveling internationally, and that the criminal
background of such individuals may not be known to local law
enforcement prior to their arrival.
(5) The commercial sexual exploitation of minors in child
sex trafficking and pornography is a global phenomenon. The
International Labour Organization has estimated that 1.8
million children worldwide are victims of child sex trafficking
and pornography each year.
(6) Child sex tourism, where an individual travels to a
foreign country and engages in sexual activity with a child in
that country, is a form of child exploitation and, where
commercial, child sex trafficking.
(7) According to research conducted by The Protection
Project of The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of
Advanced International Studies, sex tourists from the United
States who target children form a significant percentage of
child sex tourists in some of the most significant destination
countries for child sex tourism.
(8) In order to protect children, it is essential that
United States law enforcement be able to identify child-sex
offenders in the United States who are traveling abroad and
child-sex offenders from other countries entering the United
States. Such identification requires cooperative efforts
between the United States and foreign governments. In exchange
for providing notice of child-sex offenders traveling to the
United States, foreign authorities will expect United States
authorities to provide reciprocal notice of child-sex offenders
traveling to their countries.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Center.--The term ``Center'' means the Angel Watch
Center established pursuant to section 4(a).
(2) Child-sex offender.--
(A) In general.--The term ``child-sex offender''
means an individual who is a sex offender described in
paragraph (3) or (4) of section 111 of the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C.
16911) by reason of being convicted of a child-sex
offense.
(B) Definition of convicted.--In this paragraph,
the term ``convicted'' has the meaning given the term
in paragraph (8) of section 111 of such Act.
(3) Child-sex offense.--
(A) In general.--The term ``child-sex offense''
means a specified offense against a minor, as defined
in paragraph (7) of section 111 of the Adam Walsh Child
Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16911),
including--
(i) an offense (unless committed by a
parent or guardian) involving kidnapping;
(ii) an offense (unless committed by a
parent or guardian) involving false
imprisonment;
(iii) solicitation to engage in sexual
conduct;
(iv) use in a sexual performance;
(v) solicitation to practice prostitution;
(vi) video voyeurism as described in
section 1801 of title 18, United States Code;
(vii) possession, production, or
distribution of child pornography;
(viii) criminal sexual conduct involving a
minor, or the use of the Internet to facilitate
or attempt such conduct; and
(ix) any conduct that by its nature is a
sex offense against a minor.
(B) Other offenses.--The term ``child-sex offense''
includes a sex offense described in paragraph (5)(A) of
section 111 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and
Safety Act of 2006 that is a specified offense against
a minor, as defined in paragraph (7) of such section.
(C) Foreign convictions; offenses involving
consensual sexual conduct.--The limitations contained
in subparagraphs (B) and (C) of section 111(5) of the
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006
shall apply with respect to a child-sex offense for
purposes of this Act to the same extent and in the same
manner as such limitations apply with respect to a sex
offense for purposes of the Adam Walsh Child Protection
and Safety Act of 2006.
(4) Jurisdiction.--The term ``jurisdiction'' means any of
the following:
(A) A State.
(B) The District of Columbia.
(C) The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(D) Guam.
(E) American Samoa.
(F) The Northern Mariana Islands.
(G) The United States Virgin Islands.
(H) To the extent provided in, and subject to the
requirements of, section 127 of the Adam Walsh Child
Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16927), a
federally recognized Indian tribe.
(5) Minor.--The term ``minor'' means an individual who has
not attained the age of 18 years.
SEC. 4. ANGEL WATCH CENTER.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall
establish within the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of United
States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the Department of
Homeland Security a Center, to be known as the ``Angel Watch Center'',
to carry out the activities specified in subsection (d).
(b) Leadership.--The Center shall be headed by the Director of ICE,
in collaboration with the Commissioner of United States Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) and in consultation with the Attorney General.
(c) Members.--The Center shall consist of the following:
(1) The Director of ICE.
(2) The Commissioner of CBP.
(3) Individuals who are designated as analysts in ICE or
CBP.
(4) Individuals who are designated as program managers in
ICE or CBP.
(d) Activities.--
(1) In general.--The Center shall carry out the following
activities:
(A) Receive information on travel by child-sex
offenders.
(B) Establish a system to maintain and archive all
relevant information, including the response of
destination countries to notifications under subsection
(e) where available, and decisions not to transmit
notification abroad.
(C) Establish an annual review process to ensure
that the Center is consistent in procedures to provide
notification to destination countries or not to provide
notification to destination countries, as appropriate.
(2) Information required.--The United States Marshals
Service's National Sex Offender Targeting Office shall make
available to the Center information on travel by child-sex
offenders in a timely manner for purposes of carrying out the
activities described in paragraph (1) and (e).
(e) Notification.--
(1) To countries of destination.--
(A) In general.--The Center may transmit notice of
impending or current international travel of a child-
sex offender to the country or countries of destination
of the child-sex offender, including to the visa-
issuing agent or agents in the United States of the
country or countries.
(B) Form.--The notice under this paragraph may be
transmitted through such means as determined
appropriate by the Center, including through an ICE
attache.
(2) To offenders.--
(A) General notification.--
(i) In general.--If the Center transmits
notice under paragraph (1) of impending
international travel of a child-sex offender to
the country or countries of destination of the
child-sex offender, the Secretary of Homeland
Security, in conjunction with any appropriate
agency, shall make reasonable efforts to
provide constructive notice through electronic
or telephonic communication to the child-sex
offender prior to the child-sex offender's
arrival in the country or countries.
(ii) Exception.--The requirement to provide
constructive notice under clause (i) shall not
apply in the case of impending international
travel of a child-sex offender to the country
or countries of destination of the child-sex
offender if such constructive notice would
conflict with an existing investigation
involving the child-sex offender.
(B) Specific notification regarding risk to life or
well-being of offender.--If the Center has reason to
believe that to transmit notice under paragraph (1)
poses a risk to the life or well-being of the child-sex
offender, the Center shall make reasonable efforts to
provide constructive notice through electronic or
telephonic communication to the child-sex offender of
such risk.
(C) Specific notification regarding probable denial
of entry to offender.--If the Center has reason to
believe that a country of destination of the child-sex
offender is highly likely to deny entry to the child-
sex offender due to transmission of notice under
paragraph (1), the Center shall make reasonable efforts
to provide constructive notice through electronic or
telephonic communication to the child-sex offender of
such probable denial.
(3) Sunset.--The authority of paragraph (1) shall terminate
with respect to a child-sex offender beginning as of the close
of the last day of the registration period of such child-sex
offender under section 115 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection
and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16915).
(f) Complaint Review.--The Center shall establish a mechanism to
receive complaints from child-sex offenders affected by notifications
of destination countries of such child-sex offenders under subsection
(e).
(g) Consultations.--The Center shall seek to engage in ongoing
consultations with--
(1) nongovernmental organizations, including faith-based
organizations, that have experience and expertise in
identifying and preventing child sex tourism and rescuing and
rehabilitating minor victims of international sexual
exploitation and trafficking;
(2) the governments of countries interested in cooperating
in the creation of an international sex offender travel
notification system or that are primary destination or source
countries for international sex tourism; and
(3) Internet service and software providers regarding
available and potential technology to facilitate the
implementation of an international sex offender travel
notification system, both in the United States and in other
countries.
(h) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary of Homeland Security and
the Secretary of State may provide technical assistance to foreign
authorities in order to enable such authorities to participate more
effectively in the notification program system established under this
section.
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS PROVISIONS.
(a) Bilateral Agreements.--It is the sense of Congress that the
President should negotiate memoranda of understanding or other
bilateral agreements with foreign governments to further the purposes
of this Act and the amendments made by this Act, including by--
(1) establishing systems to receive and transmit notices as
required by title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and
Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.); and
(2) establishing mechanisms for private companies and
nongovernmental organizations to report on a voluntary basis
suspected child pornography or exploitation to foreign
governments, the nearest United States embassy in cases in
which a possible United States citizen may be involved, or
other appropriate entities.
(b) Notification to the United States of Child-sex Offenses
Committed Abroad.--It is the sense of Congress that the President
should formally request foreign governments to notify the United States
when a United States citizen has been arrested, convicted, sentenced,
or completed a prison sentence for a child-sex offense in the foreign
country.
SEC. 6. ENHANCING THE MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF
TRAFFICKING.
Section 108(b)(4) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
(22 U.S.C. 7106(b)(4)) is amended by adding at the end before the
period the following: ``, including severe forms of trafficking in
persons related to sex tourism''.
SEC. 7. ASSISTANCE TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO MEET MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR
THE ELIMINATION OF TRAFFICKING.
The President is strongly encouraged to exercise the authorities of
section 134 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152d) to
provide assistance to foreign countries directly, or through
nongovernmental and multilateral organizations, for programs, projects,
and activities, including training of law enforcement entities and
officials, designed to establish systems to identify sex offenders and
provide and receive notification of child sex offender international
travel.
SEC. 8. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) Department of Justice.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed
to preclude or alter the jurisdiction or authority of the Department of
Justice under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006
(42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.), including section 113(d) of such Act, or any
other provision law, or to affect the work of the United States
Marshals Service with INTERPOL.
(b) Angel Watch Center.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to
preclude the Angel Watch Center from transmitting notice with respect
to any sex offender described in paragraph (3) or (4) of section 111 of
the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C.
16911) or with respect to any sex offense described in paragraph (5) of
such section.
Passed the House of Representatives May 20, 2014.
Attest:
KAREN L. HAAS,
Clerk.