International Megan's Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking

Floor Speech

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First of all, let me begin by thanking our distinguished chairman, Ed Royce, for his leadership on combating human trafficking in general and for his strong support for this legislation today. To him and his staff, I am deeply, deeply grateful.

Then, to Eliot Engel, the ranking member, we work as a team, and he works as a team, and it is one of the most bipartisan committees, probably, in the House.

Thank you for your leadership on this as well and for your kind words a moment ago. I do deeply appreciate it.

Madam Speaker, protecting women and children from violence and predatory behavior is among the highest duties and responsibilities of government.

So today is truly a historic day--a historic day in the struggle to end human trafficking and to protect the weakest and must vulnerable from modern-day slavery.

As prime author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as well as reauthorizations of that law in 2003 and 2005, I believe the five bills under consideration by the House today will significantly prevent the horrific crime of human trafficking, protect and assist victims, and prosecute those who exploit and abuse.

Madam Speaker, as we all know, legislative priorities in the U.S. House of Representatives don't happen by default, nor by happenstance. I especially want to single out Majority Leader Eric Cantor for his extraordinary leadership in ensuring that these five bills--and there will be others, I am sure, in their wake--were brought to the floor.

There were multiple referrals to committees and subcommittees. I know that our bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee--we worked very closely with the Judiciary Committee and their staff--as well as Homeland Security, which also was very supportive. It is that kind of coordination and leadership that makes what looks like an easy walk--and this has not been an easy walk for these bills; it never is--to come to the floor today with all of the differences of opinion.

We are united on the floor of the House of Representatives today in saying in a bipartisan way absolutely ``no'' to this crime of human trafficking.

So thank you Eric Cantor for that leadership. It is deeply, deeply appreciated.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 4573, the International Megan's Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking, is a serious attempt to mitigate child sex tourism by noticing countries of destination concerning the travel plans of convicted pedophiles. And to protect American children, the bill encourages the President of the United States and everyone else, like the Secretary of State, to use bilateral agreements and assistance to establish reciprocal notification so that we will know when a convicted child abuser comes to the United States.

Madam Speaker, in 1994, a young girl in my district, then my hometown of Hamilton Township, was lured into the home of a convicted pedophile who lived across the street from her home. Megan Kanka, 7 years old, was raped and murdered.

No one, including Megan Kanka's parents or any of the other neighbors, knew that their neighbor across the street had been convicted twice and jailed for child sexual assault.

The combination of concern for at-risk children and outrage towards those who abuse them led to enactment of Megan's Law--public sex offender registries--in every State in the country. In 2006, Chairman Sensenbrenner nationalized the whole idea and concept of the registry as part of his historic law, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

Madam Speaker, it is imperative that we take the lessons learned on how to protect our children from known child sex predators within our borders and expand those to children globally. Child predators thrive on secrecy, a secrecy that allows them to commit heinous crimes against children with impunity and without any meaningful accountability. Megan's Law, with its emphasis on notification, must go global to protect American children and children worldwide.

Let's not forget the prevalence or the size of this abuse. Nobody knows for sure exactly how many, but the International Labor Organization estimates that 1.8 million children are victims of commercial sexual exploitation around the world every year.

Madam Speaker, it is also worth noting that in 2010 the Government Accountability Office issued a report entitled, ``Current Situation Results in Thousands of Passports Issued to Registered Sex Offenders.'' They found that at least 4,500 U.S. passports were issued to registered sex offenders in fiscal year 2008 alone. The GAO emphasized that this number is probably understated due to the limitations of the data that it was able to access and analyze.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. ROYCE. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Thank you, Chairman Royce.

Meanwhile, the law enforcement and media reports continue to document Americans on the U.S. sex offender registries who were caught sexually abusing children in East Asia and Central and South America and everyplace in the world. It is the same horror movie replayed over and over. We must do more to warn destination countries so that they can, in turn, protect their children from sex tourism. We have the information and technology that is employed to protect children.

Madam Speaker, I ask Members to support this legislation. It is the second time that we have brought this bill to the floor. It is slightly different than it was in 2010. It passed then. It got no action in the United States Senate.

I hope all five of these historic bills are taken up in a very timely fashion by the U.S. Senate because protecting the weakest and the most vulnerable--women, children, and especially the at-risk population--from this cruelty must be an imperative. And the Senate needs to act, as we are acting.

I would like to thank the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for their support of the legislation.

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