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US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support

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Re: US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support

#11

Post by bsder »

UberFly wrote: post #8

Owing child support is a negative on children and society in general, but I'm sure there are plenty who will argue in favor of it.

I don't have much of a problem with the $100K penalties.

I have a lot more issue with a $2.5K limit--that could be just one or two (intentionally or unintentionally) misreported payments. Or a paycheck hiccup. Or a layoff. Or a government error (because we all know how infallible DOGE was). Or a government shutdown. Or ...

We specifically decry the concepts of debtor's prisons and social credit in the US. For good reasons.

This is leaving aside the whole discussion about your passport being an identity document that isn't subject to control of a single US state government like your driver's license.

Re: US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support

#12

Post by handedness »

Not commenting one way or the other, but here is what authorizes this:

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)[0]

SEC. 370. DENIAL OF PASSPORTS FOR NONPAYMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT. (a) HHS Certification Procedure.— (1) Secretarial responsibility.—Section 452 (42 U.S.C. 652), as amended by section 345 of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(k)(1) If the Secretary receives a certification by a State agency in accordance with the requirements of section 454(31) that an individual owes arrearages of child support in an amount exceeding $5,000, the Secretary shall transmit such certification to the Secretary of State for action (with respect to denial, revocation, or limitation of passports) pursuant to paragraph (2). “(2) The Secretary of State shall, upon certification by the Secretary transmitted under paragraph (1), refuse to issue a passport to such individual, and may revoke, restrict, or limit a passport issued previously to such individual.[1]

The above may have predated the amended copy, as a threshold of $2,500 seemed to be the case at least 3 years ago, for whatever that is worth.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Wo...

[1] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-1793/uslm/COMPS-17...

Re: US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support

#13

Post by tgv »

remarkEon wrote: post #9
tgv wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk, but it may also be a ploy to disfranchise voters (if a passport is required to vote), as this hits Democrats voter potential harder.

Democrats tend to be deadbeat dads? What?

Poverty is the underlying factor.

Re: US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support

#14

Post by mjd »

UberFly wrote: post #8

Owing child support is a negative on children and society in general, but I'm sure there are plenty who will argue in favor of it.

I accidentally read the comments on the post and got as far as this one:

“Honestly, since we're going towards socialism, we need to abolish child support. Women have the right to get an abortion because it is their body their choice. A man has to use his body …”

That was enough for me.

Re: US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support

#16

Post by mschuster91 »

remarkEon wrote: post #9
tgv wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk, but it may also be a ploy to disfranchise voters (if a passport is required to vote), as this hits Democrats voter potential harder.

Democrats tend to be deadbeat dads? What?

They are probably referring to a study suggesting that Black and Hispanic families are more often suffering from non- or underpayment of child support (and from lesser amounts of support being ordered) than among White families [1]. That together with voter demographics going strongly for Democrat support among Black families [2] makes this at least a correlation supported by facts.

However, I think it is not causal because under- or nonpayment of child support is linked to financial difficulties and income disparities, which non-White people are experiencing at significantly higher rates.

[1] https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CSRA-...

[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/partisanship...

Re: US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support

#19

Post by Perenti »

I've been told that American's have a very low rate of passport issuance. I don't know if that's true, but the figure quoted was only 10% of adults hold passports. Is this a really effective way to get people to pay for their kids, or just the appearance of doing something to quiet the voters?
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