Ed Royce: “International Megan's Law, to prevent demand for child sex trafficking, will bolster law enforcement efforts to combat a…”

“International Megan's Law, to prevent demand for child sex trafficking, will bolster law enforcement efforts to combat a crime that is worldwide. It affects hundreds of thousands of young children every year. In particular, this bill addresses an issue of child sex tourism, by which adults travel overseas. They do this to exploit children in countries that are currently struggling to deal with this influx of child predators, and part of that influx is of Americans who are child predators. Many children victimized by this appalling crime have also been trafficked--trafficked into prostitution--recruited or transferred or sold in order to be used sexually for someone's profit. This bill helps fight back. This bill takes care of a problem that exists at present, as there are multiple U.S. agencies seeking to combat child trafficking, but not with any coordination, and they are not doing it in time to prevent those who try to travel overseas. We could be much more effective. This bill officially recognizes an Angel Watch Center within the Department of Homeland Security's Child Exploitation Investigations Center. Operation Angel Watch originated as a partnership with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and it currently collects and analyzes the foreign travel date of convicted child sex offenders to determine whether the notification to U.S. officials or foreign governments is warranted.…”