[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1392-S1393]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 280. Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. Brown) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 178, to provide justice
for the victims of trafficking; which was ordered to lie on the table;
as follows:
At the end of the bill, add the following:
TITLE IV--PREVENTING DEMAND FOR CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING
SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ``International Megan's Law
to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking''.
SEC. 402. 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, her
attacker 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
1,800,000 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. 403. DEFINITIONS.
In this title:
(1) Center.--The term ``Center'' means the Angel Watch
Center established pursuant to section 404(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 such Act 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 such Act shall apply with
respect to a child-sex offense for purposes of this title to
the same extent and in the same manner as such limitations
apply with respect to a sex offense for purposes of such Act.
(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 18 years of age.
SEC. 404. 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 U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (referred to in this section as ``ICE''), 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 U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (referred to in this section as
``CBP'') and in consultation with the Attorney General.
(c) Members.--The Center shall consist of--
(1) the Director of ICE;
(2) the Commissioner of CBP;
(3) individuals who are designated as analysts in ICE or
CBP; and
(4) individuals who are designated as program managers in
ICE or CBP.
(d) Activities.--
(1) In general.--The Center shall--
(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), to the extent
available, and decisions not to transmit notification abroad;
and
(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 subsection (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
[[Page S1393]]
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. 405. 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 title and the amendments made by
this title, including--
(1) by establishing systems to receive and transmit notices
required under title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and
Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.); and
(2) by 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. 406. 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. 407. 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. 408. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) Department of Justice.--Nothing in this title may 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
of law, or to affect the work of the United States Marshals
Service with INTERPOL.
(b) Angel Watch Center.--Nothing in this title may 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.
(c) Department of Homeland Security Investigations.--
Activities carried out under this title shall not impede,
hinder, or otherwise impact negatively any investigations of
the Department of Homeland Security.
______