I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5722 

To mandate reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers and other 

sex offenders intending to engage in international travel, to provide 

advance notice of convicted sex offenders who intend to travel outside 

the United States to the government of the country of destination, 

to prevent entry into the United States by any foreign sex offender, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2008 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. 

PITTS, Mr. WOLF, Mrs. DRAKE, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. CHABOT, and 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To mandate reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers and other sex offenders intending to engage in 

international travel, to provide advance notice of convicted sex offenders who intend to travel outside the 

United States to the government of the country of destination, to prevent entry into the United States by any 

foreign sex offender, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Megan’s 

3 Law of 2008’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSES. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Megan Nicole Kanka, who was 7 years old, 

7 was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 

8 1994, in the State of New Jersey by a violent pred9 ator who had been convicted previously of a sex of10 fense. 

11 (2) In 1996, Congress adopted Megan’s Law 

12 (Public Law 104–145) as a means to encourage 

13 States to inform the public of sex offenders who had 

14 been convicted and are present in their communities. 

15 (3) In 2006, Congress adopted the Sex Of16 fender Registration and Notification Act (title I of 

17 Public Law 109–248), which further strengthens the 

18 national standards for sex offender registration and 

19 public notification. 

20 (4) Since 2003, U.S. Immigration and Customs 

21 Enforcement has made nearly 11,000 arrests, in22 cluding over 9,100 arrests of non-United States citi23 zens, of persons suspected of illegally exploiting chil24 dren. Violations include child pornography, child sex 

25 tourism and facilitators, and trafficking of minors. 


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1 (5) It is estimated that more than 2 million 

2 children are exploited each year in the global com3 mercial sex trade. 

4 (b) DECLARATION OF PURPOSES.—The purposes of 

5 this Act and the amendments made by this Act are to pre6 vent the international travel of sex traffickers and other 

7 sex offenders who intend to commit a sexual offense by— 

8 (1) expanding access to information about 

9 known sex offenders in the United States who intend 

10 to travel outside the United States; 

11 (2) ensuring that foreign nationals who have 

12 committed a sex offense are denied entry into the 

13 United States; 

14 (3) including information in the annual report 

15 to Congress required by section 110(b)(1) of the 

16 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

17 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) regarding the establishment of 

18 systems to identify and provide notice of inter19 national travel by sex offenders to destination coun20 tries; and 

21 (4) providing assistance to foreign countries 

22 under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to meet 

23 the requirements described in paragraph (3). 


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1 SEC. 3. SEX OFFENDER TRAVEL REPORTING REQUIRE2 MENT. 

3 (a) DUTY TO REPORT.—An individual who is re4 quired to register pursuant to section 113 of the Sex Of5 fender Registration and Notification Act shall notify an 

6 appropriate jurisdiction or jurisdictions in conformity with 

7 the rules issued under subsection (b) not later than 21 

8 days before departure to or arrival from a foreign place. 

9 A jurisdiction so notified shall promptly inform the Sec10 retary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General. 

11 (b) RULES FOR REPORTING.—Not later than 90 days 

12 after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home13 land Security and the Attorney General shall make rules 

14 to carry out subsection (a) in the light of the purposes 

15 of this Act. Such rules— 

16 (1) shall establish procedures for reporting 

17 under subsection (a); 

18 (2) shall set forth the information required to 

19 be reported; and 

20 (3) may provide for appropriate alternative re21 porting in situations, such as emergencies, where the 

22 requirement of subsection (a) is impracticable or in23 appropriate. 

24 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO RE25 PORT.— 


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1 (1) NEW OFFENSE.—Section 2250 of title 18, 

2 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

3 end the following: 

4 ‘‘(d) Whoever knowingly fails to report his or her 

5 travel to or from a foreign place as required by the Inter6 national Megan’s Law of 2007 shall be fined under this 

7 title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.’’. 

8 (2) AMENDMENT TO HEADING OF SECTION.— 

9 The heading for section 2250 of title 18, United 

10 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘or report 

11 international travel’’ after ‘‘register’’. 

12 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO AFFIRMA13 TIVE DEFENSE.—Section 2250(b) of title 18, United 

14 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘or (d)’’ after 

15 ‘‘(a)’’. 

16 (4) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL

17 PENALTIES FOR VIOLENT CRIMES.—Section 2250(c) 

18 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by in19 serting ‘‘or (d)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’ each place it appears. 

20 (5) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating 

21 to section 2250 in the table of sections at the begin22 ning of chapter 109B of title 18, United States 

23 Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘or report inter24 national travel’’ after ‘‘register’’. 


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1 (d) DUTY TO NOTIFY SEX OFFENDERS OF REPORT2 ING REQUIREMENT.—When an official is required under 

3 the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act to no4 tify an offender of a duty to register under that Act, the 

5 official shall also, at the same time— 

6 (1) notify that offender of that offender’s duty 

7 to report under this section and the procedure for 

8 fulfilling that duty; and 

9 (2) require the offender to read and sign a form 

10 stating that the duty to report and the procedure for 

11 reporting has been explained and that the offender 

12 understands the reporting requirement. 

13 SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION TO FOREIGN AUTHORITIES OF 

14 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL BY SEX OFFEND15 ERS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to protect children and 

17 others and prevent sex trafficking, the Secretary of Home18 land Security shall establish a system in consultation with 

19 the Attorney General and the Secretary of State whereby 

20 the appropriate authorities in relevant foreign countries 

21 or territories are notified in a timely manner about travel 

22 outside the United States by persons required to register 

23 under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act 

24 and to report pursuant to section 3 of this Act. 


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1 (b) FOREIGN AUTHORITIES TO BE GIVEN SUFFI2 CIENT INFORMATION.—Each foreign authority notified 

3 under subsection (a) shall be given sufficient identifying 

4 information so as to be able to properly identify and track 

5 the registered individual. 

6 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 

7 State may provide technical assistance to foreign authori8 ties in order to enable such authorities to participate more 

9 effectively in the notification program established under 

10 this section. 

11 SEC. 5. IMMIGRATION LAW REFORM TO PREVENT ADMIS12 SION OF SEX OFFENDERS TO THE UNITED 

13 STATES. 

14 Section 212(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality 

15 Act (8 U.S.C.1182(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(J) SEX OFFENDERS.—Any alien con18 victed of, or who admits having committed, or 

19 who admits committing acts which constitute 

20 the essential elements of, a sex offense (as de21 fined in section 111 of the Sex Offender Reg22 istration and Notification Act (title I of Public 

23 Law 109–248)) is inadmissible.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT ON STATUS OF SEVERE FORMS OF 

2 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS AND IMPLEMEN3 TATION ASSESSMENT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 110(b)(1) of the Traf5 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 

6 7107(b)(1)) is amended— 

7 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

8 the end; 

9 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub10 paragraph (E); and 

11 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(D)(i) a list of those countries that have 

14 established a system— 

15 ‘‘(I) to identify sex offenders (as de16 fined for purposes of the Sex Offender 

17 Registration and Notification Act (title I of 

18 Public Law 109–248; 42 U.S.C. 16911)) 

19 traveling to the United States or any other 

20 country; and 

21 ‘‘(II) to notify the United States or 

22 the other country of— 

23 ‘‘(aa) the identity of the indi24 vidual, 


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1 ‘‘(bb) the nature of the sex of2 fense for which the individual was 

3 convicted, and 

4 ‘‘(cc) the anticipated manner, 

5 date, and time of the individual’s ar6 rival in the United States or the other 

7 country, 

8 prior to the individual’s travel; 

9 ‘‘(ii) a list of those countries that are mak10 ing substantial progress in establishing a sys11 tem pursuant to clause (i), and the estimated 

12 time of completion; 

13 ‘‘(iii) a list of those countries that do not 

14 have and are not making substantial progress 

15 in establishing a system pursuant to clause (i); 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(iv) an assessment as to the progress 

18 made and difficulties that exist in establishing 

19 a system pursuant to clause (i) on a global 

20 scale, and the extent of inter-country coopera21 tion with respect to sex offender travel notifica22 tions; and’’. 

23 (b) ASSESSMENT REQUIRED.—Not later than two 

24 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

25 President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional 


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1 committees an assessment based on the information pro2 vided pursuant to subparagraph (D) of section 110(b)(1) 

3 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

4 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1) (as added by subsection (a) of this sec5 tion), as to how an amendment to section 108(a) of such 

6 Act (22 U.S.C. 7106(a)) to include the establishment of 

7 a system described in subparagraph (D) of section 

8 110(b)(1) of such Act (as added by subsection (a) of this 

9 section) would facilitate and contribute to advancing the 

10 establishment of such a system on a global scale. 

11 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE12 FINED.—For purposes of subsection (b), the term ‘‘appro13 priate congressional committees’’ means the Committee on 

14 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 

15 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

16 SEC. 7. ASSISTANCE TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO MEET 

17 MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMI18 NATION OF TRAFFICKING. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is strongly encour20 aged to exercise the authorities of section 134 of the For21 eign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152d) to provide 

22 assistance to foreign countries directly, or through non23 governmental and multilateral organizations, for pro24 grams, projects, and activities designed to establish sysVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:39 Apr 12, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722

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1 tems to identify and provide notification of sex offenders 

2 traveling to the United States or any other country. 

3 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘sex of4 fender’’ has the meaning given the term for purposes of 

5 the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (title 

6 I of Public Law 109–248; 42 U.S.C. 16911)). 

7 SEC. 8. CONGRESSIONAL REPORT. 

8 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

9 after the enactment of this Act and every year for 4 years 

10 thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate 

11 congressional committees a report on the implementation 

12 of this Act and the amendments made by this Act, includ13 ing— 

14 (1) the number of sex offenders who report 

15 travel to or from a foreign place pursuant to section 

16 3(a) of this Act; 

17 (2) the number of sex offenders prosecuted and 

18 convicted for failing to report travel to or from a 

19 foreign place pursuant to section 3(a) of this Act; 

20 and 

21 (3) what actions have been taken, if any, by 

22 foreign countries and territories of destination fol23 lowing notification pursuant to section 4 of this Act. 

24 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

25 DEFINED.—For purposes of subsection (a), the term ‘‘apVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:39 Apr 12, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722

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1 propriate congressional committees’’ means the Com2 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 

3 and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

4 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 To carry out this Act and the amendments made by 

6 this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated such 

7 sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2009 

8 through 2013. 

Æ 


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