Obama signs International Megan’s Law

Congressman Chris Smith was the sponsor of the International Megan’s Law

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday signed legislation named for a Hamilton girl that’s designed to alert foreign governments when registered sex offenders travel abroad. The International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and cleared by… Read the rest of this entry »

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House of Representatives Passes International Megan’s Law, Bill Awaits Obama’s Signature

By Congressman Chris Smith

Eight years after I first introduced a bill to protect children in the U.S. and around the world from convicted pedophiles who travel in secret to or from the United States—currently below the radar of law enforcement officials—it is now on the verge of becoming law.

The House today passed, and sent to the President, my International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking (HR 515)—named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from Hamilton, N.J. in our congressional district who was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994. Megan’s assailant was a convicted, repeat sex offender living across the street, unbeknownst to residents in the neighborhood. Due to public outcry in response to the tragedy and to hard work by Megan’s loving parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, the New Jersey State Legislature passed the original Megan’s Law (NJSA 2C: 7-1 through 7-II) in 1994 to require public notification of convicted sex offenders living in the community.

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