Child support enforcement has a powerful new weapon in its arsenal: the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires travelers returning to the US from Canada, Mexico, the Carribean, Bermuda and central and South America possess passports.

The new laws require many people who did not previously have passports to obtain passports for travel outside the US.

Only they can’t if they owe more than $2,500 in child support arrearages.

So people who really want to travel outside the country must pay up – or stay home.

Connecticut, as an example, has seen support collection rise dramatically as a result of the implementation of the new rules.

And it’s not just Connecticut.

Whatever the benefit to national security, these new passport rules surely benefit someone – children owed child support.

Read more in this Government Technology article: New Passport Rules Boost Connecticut Child Support Enforcement.