US will start revoking passports for parents who owe child support(apnews.com)
52 pointsby OutOfHere7 hours ago11 comments
  • handedness4 hours ago
    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...

  • UberFly5 hours ago
    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.
    • bsder4 hours ago
      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.

      • bawolff4 hours ago
        > 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 ...

        In all of those situations, the child still has needs that need to be paid for.

        • rho1384 hours ago
          Then those responsibilities should fall on the state. If we all give a shit that kids are going without then lets solve the issue instead of ringing out our pearls.
        • actionfromafar4 hours ago
          But it's a small sum of money for potentially a large screwup with potential permanent side effects, like losing a cross border job. Of course, cross border anything is less and less likely these days.
    • mjd4 hours ago
      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.

      • piltdownman2 hours ago
        I mean that's just reductio ad absurdum to be haughtily oblique about the whole issue.

        Social programs =/= socialism. There are plenty of capitalist economies with robust social safety nets - most EU countries provide free healthcare, education, and forms of UBI in the forms of grants for artists and social welfare for those incapable of working.

      • eowln4 hours ago
        This but unironically. If a woman can choose to abort then a man should be able to choose not to have anything to do with his children.
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  • samlinnfer5 hours ago
    Looks like China is just ahead of the curve where you can't buy a plane ticket or book a train if you owe debts.
  • stuaxoan hour ago
    This sounds worse for the kids themselves.
  • Perenti4 hours ago
    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?
    • rho1384 hours ago
      As an american it is true that most people don’t have passports - the act of flying internationally is either out of reach economically or culturally. This does give mostly out of touch opression where the margins are the targets and the white dudes will likely get a pass, so the latter.
      • egorfine3 hours ago
        What does it mean "out of reach culturally"? Genuine question, I'm very curious about it.
        • rincebrain2 hours ago
          I've met a lot of people in the US who assume they cannot afford to fly anywhere, much less to another country, without having ever priced any part of it, they simply Knew from cultural osmosis they were not The Kind Of People Who Could Do That.

          I am assuming that's what they meant.

    • defrost4 hours ago
      It's possible this might have a significant (not small, not necessarily large) impact on the smaller subset of delinquent parents that might currently have a larger double digit percentage (30% say) skipping to Canada, Mexico, or elsewhere to avoid being chased down.

      Or not.

      The main point here is that it's not the entire population of regular US citizens that should be looked at here, more the specific behaviour of the subset in question.

    • bawolff4 hours ago
      Presumably it would be very effective for some demographics and not so effective for others. 10% is still a very large group of people. People who would be affected are also probably people who can afford international travel, so the affected are probably disporportionally the group who are failing to pay despite having a bunch of spare income.
    • hdgvhicv4 hours ago
      There’s about 180m us passports, so about half the country has one, about the same percentage as France.
      • ThePowerOfFuetan hour ago
        How many of those are second passports for the benefit of people who wish to visit Israel without the added friction that Israeli stamps in their primary passport would bring?

        Also, EU citizens do not require a passport to travel within the EU; by law, their national ID card suffices, thus making passports unnecessary for much of their travel.

        • Saline9515an hour ago
          In practice many still own passports, as they are considered as better proofs of identity when you travel.
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  • thefz2 hours ago
    Great, now do it with tax evaders.
  • LightBug14 hours ago
    Hey look, there's some chairs over there yonder. Anyone want to help me move them around a little? Rearrange them perchance?

    RIP USA.

  • onetokeoverthe5 hours ago
    [dead]
  • reenorap5 hours ago
    [flagged]
    • tgv5 hours ago
      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.
      • actionfromafar4 hours ago
        That's really clever and may be the reason why the limit is so low.
      • remarkEon5 hours ago
        Democrats tend to be deadbeat dads? What?
        • mschuster914 hours ago
          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...

        • tgv4 hours ago
          Poverty is the underlying factor.
          • testfrequency4 hours ago
            Gestures to all the red states which on average have higher rates of crippling poverty.

            You done being wrong yet?

            • tgvan hour ago
              Pew Research (2024) says: About six-in-ten voters with lower family incomes (58%) associate with the Democratic Party, compared with 36% who affiliate with the Republican Party.
              • testfrequency38 minutes ago
                You should check the exit polls from 2024 if you want to go back that far then.

                Republicans won the vote for the under $100k bracket.

            • actionfromafar4 hours ago
              What are you making an argument for or against?
              • testfrequency3 hours ago
                It’s not threaded here but the responder made a comment about this affecting liberals more than anyone, to which I countered by saying statistically conservative states suffer more from poverty.

                Fully aware it’s not as a black and white as this, but on surface they are just wrong to tie a political party to poverty when it affects everyone.

        • 47484949494 hours ago
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    • NoMoreNicksLeft5 hours ago
      Think the original language is 1996 and Clinton. Or, more properly, I guess, Gingrich. I don't know all the details, saw that somewhere else and can't remember where.
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