[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 86 (Tuesday, June 25, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3884-H3886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SEX TOURISM PROHIBITION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2002
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 4477) to amend title 18, United States Code, with
respect to crimes involving the transportation of persons and sex
tourism, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 4477
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Sex Tourism Prohibition
Improvement Act of 2002''.
SEC. 2. SECTION 2423 AMENDMENTS.
(a) In General.--Section 2423 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the
following:
``(b) Travel With Intent To Engage in Illicit Sexual
Conduct.--A person who travels in interstate commerce or
travels into the United States, or a United States citizen or
an alien admitted for permanent residence in the United
States who travels in foreign commerce, for the purpose of
engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
15 years, or both.
``(c) Engaging in Illicit Sexual Conduct in Foreign
Places.--Any United States citizen or alien admitted for
permanent residence who travels in foreign commerce, and
engages in any illicit sexual conduct with another person
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
15 years, or both.
``(d) Ancillary Offenses.--Whoever arranges, induces,
procures, or facilitates the travel of a person knowing that
such a person is traveling in interstate commerce or foreign
commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual
conduct shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more
than 15 years, or both.
``(e) Attempt and Conspiracy.--Whoever attempts or
conspires to violate subsection (a), (b), (c), or (d) shall
be punishable in the same manner as a completed violation of
that subsection.
``(f) Definition.--As used in this section, the term
`illicit sexual conduct' means (1) a sexual act (as defined
in section 2246) with a person that would be in violation of
chapter 109A if the sexual act occurred in the special
maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States;
or (2) any commercial sex act (as defined in section 1591)
with a person who the individual engaging in the commercial
sex act, knows or should have known has not attained the age
of 18 years.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 2423(a) of title 18,
United States Code, is amended by striking ``or attempts to
do so,''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Scott) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Sensenbrenner).
General Leave
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have five legislative days within which to revise and
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4477
currently under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Wisconsin?
There was no objection.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
H.R. 4477, the Sex Tourism Prohibition Improvement Act of 2002,
addresses a number of problems related to persons who travel to foreign
countries and engage in illicit sexual relations with minors. According
to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, child-sex
tourism contributes to the sexual exploitation of children and is
increasing. There are more than 100 websites devoted to promoting teen-
age commercial sex in Asia alone. Because poorer countries are often
under economic pressure to develop tourism, those governments often
turn a blind eye towards this devastating problem. As a result,
children around the world have been trapped and exploited by the sex
tourism industry.
While much of the initial attention on child-sex tourism focused on
Thailand and other countries of Southeast Asia, it has become
disturbingly clear in recent years that there is no hemisphere,
continent, or region unaffected by the child-sex trade. While it is
difficult to precisely measure the exact number of children affected by
sex tourism, experts agree that the number is well into the millions
worldwide.
Some of the foreign countries experiencing the most significant
problems with sex tourism, such as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, and
the Philippines, have requested that the United States act to deal with
this growing
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problem. For reasons ranging from ineffective law enforcement, lack of
resources, corruption or generally immature legal systems, U.S. sex
tourists often escape prosecution in those countries. It is in those
instances that the United States has an interest in pursuing criminal
charges in the United States.
Current law requires the Government to prove that the defendant
traveled to a foreign country with the intent to engage in sex with a
minor. H.R. 4477 eliminates the intent requirement where the defendant
completes the travel and actually engages in the illicit sexual
activity with a minor.
The bill also criminalizes the actions of sex tour operators by
prohibiting persons from arranging, inducing, procuring or facilitating
the travel of a person knowing that such a person is traveling in
interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit
sexual conduct with a minor.
The legislation will also close significant loopholes in the law that
persons who travel to foreign countries seeking sex with children are
currently using to their advantage in order to avoid prosecution. I
urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in opposition to the bill. The bill is way overbroad in its
application, so much so that it would make it a felony, up to 15 years
in prison, for the older of two teen-age high school students to
attempt or even talk about and agree to travel across State lines or
foreign boundaries to engage in consensual sexual activity, including
what is referred to as heavy petting, since the provision covers even
touching through the definition of sexual act.
It is already a serious felony with up to 15 years in prison for such
teenagers, one 19 and one 15, to actually engage in these consensual
activities in their community, and now we make it another serious
felony for them to even to attempt to travel from Virginia to
Washington, D.C., to engage in consensual activities or even to just
agree to it, since conspiracy would be a crime.
Certainly there are individuals in situations covered by the bill
with which we all can agree, such as sexual predators who prey upon
children, but we do not want to put wayward teenagers in this group as
the bill does.
During the committee markup on the bill, I offered an amendment to
eliminate consensual activities between teenagers, but that amendment
was rejected.
Since the bill covers foreign travel by United States citizens and
resident aliens traveling from the United States, we are dictating to
the world our notions of serious felony crimes, regardless of the
cultural norms of other countries. Just as the average age of marriage
in this country was 15 for a female and 21 for a male only about 50
years ago, other countries have much younger averages now than does the
United States and provide for consensual relationships to begin between
young people much earlier than we expect in the United States.
This bill covers commercial sex transactions regardless of age or
consent of the participants; and since States as well as all civilized
foreign countries have laws against the underlying activities at which
this bill is aimed, there is no demonstrated need to add more Federal
criminal laws to go after consensual activities between teens which
have nothing to do with the title or the focus of the bill.
There are some valuable provisions in the bill, and it covers much
activity, but it also covers much activity for which a 15-year penalty
would actually be bizarre. I hope we would defeat the motion to suspend
the rules so that the bill could be amended to include just the
valuable provisions without including activities which should not be
included.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Smith), the subcommittee chairman.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, we all need to thank the chairman
the Committee of the Judiciary for introducing H.R. 4477, the Sex
Tourism Prohibition Improvement Act of 2002. This legislation amends
the Federal criminal code to strengthen our laws against those who
travel or those who arrange such travel into and out of the United
States for the purpose of sexually exploiting children.
Each year more than one million children worldwide are forced into
child prostitution, trafficked and sold for sexual purposes or used in
child pornography. This world sex market is a multi-billion dollar
industry that denies children their rights, their dignity, and their
childhood.
Children in developing countries are vulnerable to this sexual
exploitation due to a number of factors, including poverty, social
dislocation, family breakdown, and homelessness. In some cases,
children seek out customers for economic survival. These circumstances
could not change the fact that sex with children is morally
reprehensible and widely condemned.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation will send a message to those who go to
foreign countries to exploit children that no one can abuse a child
with impunity, no matter where the offense is committed.
Under current law, the intent to engage in sexual acts with a minor
in a foreign country must be formed prior to traveling. Such intent is
often difficult to prove without direct arrangements booked through
obvious child sex-tour networks.
This legislation will allow the government to prosecute individuals
who travel to foreign countries and engage in illicit sexual conduct
with a minor regardless of where the intent to do so was formed.
Mr. Speaker, Congress can help reduce the number of children abused
and exploited by passing this legislation today.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Arizona (Mr. Flake).
Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I
thank the chairman for bringing this important legislation forward.
When most Americans travel overseas they do so for educational
purposes or for relaxation or simply to immerse themselves in another
culture, but others have a more perverse goal in mind. They go with the
explicit purpose to lure children in and exploit children with elicit
sexual activity. This is something we cannot as Americans countenance.
In my home State of Arizona a television station went down to Mexico
to the city of Puerto Vallarta and went to the beach and had someone
pose as an underage, clearly informing those who propositioned him that
he was under age. He was propositioned several times very quickly. Men
prowl the beaches there propositioning kids as young as 8 years old,
and it goes on day in and day out. Because of the dire poverty in some
areas and lax enforcement, Americans believe that they can get away
with that kind of activity, and nothing is to stop them except for
their conscience.
This bill says not only do they have to worry about their conscience
but they have to worry about the Federal Government coming after them.
We will not allow this activity to go forward.
It is clear that Americans traveling from one State to another cannot
engage in this kind of activity and to exploit young children. They
should not be able to travel to other countries for the purpose of
using children there for illicit sexual activity. This is simply wrong.
This legislation will go a long way towards closing the loophole that
exists that requires prosecutors to prove intent. Whether intent is
formed here or in the foreign country, it should not matter. What
matters is the act itself, and we should not allow it to happen.
Again, I thank the chairman. I urge support of the bill.
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, as appalling as it is that some would travel
abroad to engage in activities that are rightly illegal in the United
States, legislation of this sort poses many problems and offers little
solution. First among these is the matter of national sovereignty.
Those who travel abroad and break the law in their host country should
be subject to prosecution in that country: it is the responsibility of
the host country--not the U.S. Congress--to uphold its own laws. It is
a highly unique proposal to suggest that committing a crime in a
foreign country against a non-U.S. citizen is
[[Page H3886]]
within the jurisdiction of the United States Government.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation makes it a federal crime to ``travel
with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.'' I do think this is a
practical approach to the problem. It seems that this bill actually
seeks to probe the conscience of anyone who seeks to travel abroad to
make sure they do not have illegal or immoral intentions. It is
possible or even advisable to make thoughts and intentions illegal? And
how is this to be carried out? Should federal agents be assigned to
each travel agency to probe potential travelers as to the intent of
their travel?
At a time when federal resources are stretched to the limit, and when
we are not even able to keep known terrorists out of our own country,
this bill would require federal agents to not only track Americans as
they vacation abroad but would require that they be able to divine the
intentions of these individuals who seek to travel abroad. Talk about a
tall order! As well-intentioned as I am sure this legislation is, I do
not believe that it is a practical or well-thought-out approach to what
I agree is a serious and disturbing problem. perhaps a better approach
would be to share with those interested countries our own laws and
approaches to prosecuting those who commit these kinds of crimes, so as
to see more effective capture and punishment of these criminals in the
countries where the crime is committed.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of
H.R. 4477, the ``Sex Tourism Prohibition Improvement Act.'' Chairman
Sensenbrenner, I thank you for moving this important piece of
legislation through your Committee to the House floor and commend you
for your leadership on this most serious issue. As the prime author of
the ``Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000,''
legislation that strengthens penalties against those running
trafficking rings and provides services as well as protection for
victims, I have followed this issue closely.
Sex tourism is a heinous, deplorable activity that is on the rise
around the world. In many cases, men prey upon underage girls in
prostitution rings who are forced sex slaves. We know that Americans
are traveling abroad as part of the sex tourism industry in large
numbers. Sadly, it is estimated that there are more than 25 organized
sex tour companies based in Miami, New York, and San Diego alone.
Current law states that a person can only be held liable for
traveling internationally to engage in sex with a minor if prosecutors
can prove he intended to do so before leaving this country. As you
might imagine, proving intent in such cases is extremely difficult,
basically creating a loophole in the law for men who go abroad to have
sex with minors, which in the United States is considered statutory
rape.
Thankfully, Chairman Sensenbrenner's bill will close this intent
loophole in the sex tourism industry. While the ``Victims of
Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000,'' seeks to punish
those running sex trafficking rings and nations that fail to combat
human trafficking, the enaction of H.R. 4477 into law will give law
enforcement officials the additional powers they need in prosecuting
the accomplices of the sex traffickers, those who feed into the
industry abroad by paying for sex with minors or other illicit sexual
conduct with another person.
Last week, I chaired the International Relations Committee's hearing
on the recently released State Department's annual Trafficking in
Person's Report. This report ranks countries based on their efforts to
combat trafficking, placing them in three different tiers. Countries
that fail to take even minimal steps to combat trafficking and are
placed on the lowest tier, Tier 3, and will be ineligible to receive
non-humanitarian foreign assistance, beginning with the foreign aid
budget for FY 2004.
Although some progress has been made, much, much work still needs to
be done as the exploitation and bondage of young girls in the sex
industry continues to run rampant both in this country and throughout
the world. At our hearing, videos were played by human rights groups
showing girls as young as 8 and 9 years old being rescued from sex
trafficking rings in India and Cambodia. While this is practically
unimaginable for decent people to fathom, those involved with the sex
industry reason that the younger the girl, the less chance of her
infecting the sex tourist with HIV/AIDS.
Sadly we know that many Americans go abroad to prey on young girls in
other countries because laws protecting women are very weak, non-
existent, or not enforced. I was recently presented a videotape
containing undercover footage taken by FOX News near an American
military installation in South Korea that shows American military
personnel on assignment patrolling establishments where their fellow
soldiers were soliciting sex from forced prostitutes.
As Chairman of the House Veteran's Affairs Committee, I have the
greatest respect for the men and women who serve in the United States
military and it greatly saddens me to report on this case in South
Korea before this chamber. A number of my colleagues have joined me in
signing a letter to Secretary Rumsfeld asking him to conduct a full
investigation into this case.
We must expect the absolute best from the men and women who serve our
country while living in foreign countries, both when they are on and
off duty. We must also expect any American traveling or living abroad
to abide by the standards of decency and respect for women we maintain
and set by our laws here in the U.S.--standards we attempt to promote
throughout the world through our foreign policy and diplomacy.
As members of Congress, we must continue to fight against the
exploitation of women and children through sex trafficking until every
person imprisoned in the sex industry is set free. Again, I commend
Chairman Sensenbrenner for his leadership on this issue.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of
this legislation.
The exploitation of the world's young women and children in sex
trafficking is a tragic human rights offense. Many of these victims are
kidnapped, sold, or tricked into brothel captivity.
Trafficking isn't just a problem in other countries. Each year, men,
women, and children from all over the world are brought into the United
States for the sole purpose of being bought and sold by American
citizens for commercial sex. Some estimates place the number as high as
750,000 individuals over the past decade. Instead of dreams of better
jobs and better lives, they are trapped into a nightmare of coercion,
violence, and disease.
It is important that we protect the victims of the sex trade
industry, and punish the predators that exploit them. Made up of
recruiters, traffickers, brothel owners, customers and other crime
syndicates, the industry profits from the victimization of individuals
who cannot defend themselves.
I have worked on the trafficking issue for many years. To stop the
actions of sex tour operators like Big Apple Oriental Tours, which is
based in New York City, I wrote to the District Attorney and to then-
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno asking them to use State and Federal
laws to stop U.S.-based tour groups that feed off the sexual
exploitation of impoverished women and young girls in developing
countries. New York law prohibits promoting prostitution or profiting
from prostitution, yet Big Apple Tours was doing just that.
This legislation would set civil and criminal penalties for certain
individuals who engage in sex trafficking. Furthermore, it sets similar
penalties for those individuals who arrange these meetings.
We must do more to stop the many human rights abuses inflicted on
men, women, and children around the world. Preventing trafficking is an
important step to ending the sex trade industry. Although we continue
to make important advances in the rights of women throughout the world,
as long as there are women whose freedoms, livelihoods, bodies, and
souls are held captive because of trafficking, our work will never be
done.
I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his work on this issue and
urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4477, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
____________________