[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

[[Page H3885]]

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.

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