International travel freedoms could be removed from American parents who owe child support debts, according to United States officials speaking ahead of formal announcements.
The Trump administration plans to start enforcing existing rules that make it possible to revoke someone’s passport if they owe more than $2,500 in outstanding child support payments. Since 1996 and until now, these rules were only acted upon if the debtor approached the State Department to apply for a passport or for other consular assistance. Now, instead, the department will begin proactively cancelling passports based on information shared by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department.
First on the target list, according to the Associated Press insider source, are parents who owe over €100,000 in child support, a group that has been estimated at around 500 people. However, the number of people at risk of having their passports removed could rise significantly if the $100,000 threshold is lowered. The HHS did not reveal how many people in total are in arrears.
The US State Department has confirmed to the AP that 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.” The parents could avoid having their passports revoked, officials confirmed, if they choose to enter into a payment plan after being told about the potential consequences of their debt.
But critics of the plan point out that only around 48% of Americans even possess a passport, making the threat of its “removal” a punishment that is moot for many. In addition, as much as 70% of child support debt is owed by noncustodial parents earning $10,000 or less per year—hardly a jet-setting crowd. According to the same research published in the Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equity in 2023, 60% of parents with child support arrears exceeding $100,000 (the number one target group) have no reported income.
Still, others note that since the Passport Denial Program was launched, approximately $621 million in overdue child support payments have been collected. Since the rule change in 1996, about 20% of the debt is owed to the government, hence the urgent drive to recover it. In 2020, over $115 billion in arrears was owed in the United States, but less than $11 billion was paid.
