Trump eyes passport travel ban for parents with unpaid bills

Parents in the United States who owe substantial child support payments could soon find themselves unable to travel internationally, as federal authorities prepare to significantly ramp up enforcement of a decades-old law.

The U.S government is set to expand and intensify a 30-year-old regulation that permits the federal government to revoke American passports until outstanding payments are settled, according to three US officials.

While federal legislation from 1996 has allowed for passport revocations for unpaid child support exceeding $2,500, the State Department previously acted only when an individual applied to renew their travel document or sought other consular services.

This meant enforcement was contingent on the person initiating contact with the department for assistance.

However, the department is now poised to proactively revoke passports based on data shared by the Health and Human Services Department, officials familiar with the plan stated anonymously, as the change has not yet been publicly announced.

Thousands of individuals are believed to be affected by this shift. Given the potentially large number of those owing child support who currently hold passports, the State Department will implement the change in stages.

The first group to be affected will be passport holders who owe more than $100,000 in past-due child support, the officials said. One of the officials said fewer than 500 people meet that threshold and could avoid having their passport revoked if they enter into a payment plan with HHS after being notified of the pending revocation.

The official acknowledged, though, that if and when the threshold is lowered to a smaller past-due amount, the number of those affected will rise significantly.

The official could not say when any further changes would take effect or estimate how many people might then lose their passports.

In an emailed response to the AP's queries about the change, the State Department said it "is reviewing options to enforce long-standing law to prevent those owing substantial amounts of child support from neglecting their legal and moral obligations to their children.”

It added: “It is simple: deadbeat parents need to pay their child support arrears.”

Since the Passport Denial Program began with the 1996 passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the initiative has taken in nearly $621 million in past-due child support payments, with nine collections of more than $300,000, according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement at the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS did not respond to questions about how many people are in arrears.