US hails Immigration bureau for blocking entry of sex offenders in 2018
MANILA, Philippines — The United States government has hailed the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for barring a large number of American registered sex offenders (RSOs) from entering the country in 2018.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente on Friday revealed that the BI was awarded a certificate of commendation by the US embassy in Manila for registering the second highest number of barred American RSOs worldwide in 2018 after Mexico.
“I commend our officers deployed at our ports of entry for a job well done. Because of your vigilance and alertness, you were able to turn away these sex offenders to protect fellow Filipinos from possible exploitation,” Morente said in a statement.
The BI said it had denied entry to a total of 156 RSOs in 2018, 128 of whom were Americans.
“We have been continuously receiving notices from foreign governments about RSOs who were monitored to be traveling to the Philippines and this information [is] immediately encoded in our database to alert our immigration officers at the ports of entry,” BI ports of operations division (POD) chief Grifton Medina said.
The US embassy specifically hailed BI’s port operations division (POD), along with airport operations section (AOS), travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU), and border control and enforcement unit (BCIU), for successfully implementing the “Angel Watch” program in the country’s ports.
Operation Angel Watch is a global initiative of the US Department of Homeland Security that targets RSOs traveling abroad who are likely to engage in child sex tourism.
Since its operations more than a decade ago, Operation Angel Watch have reportedly identified thousands of sex crime perpetrators. Advance notice of their travels is transmitted to their countries of destination.
The BI said foreign nationals identified as sex offenders are also included in the blacklist to prevent attempts to enter the Philippines. /ee
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