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The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday that it will begin revoking passports of parents who owe significant child support.

The department said that it would begin revoking U.S. passports of parents who owe $100,000 in unpaid child support — some 2700 U.S. passport holders — before expanding to include any parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support. The Department of Health and Human Services is still collecting data from state agencies to determine how many people this would include.

In its announcement, the State Department said that it is using “commonsense tools to support American families and strengthen compliance with U.S. laws.” It claimed that this measure would enforce parents’ “legal and moral obligations to their children” and therefore support “the welfare of American children by exacting real consequences for child support delinquency.”

“Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privilege of a U.S. passport,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar.

This decision aims to revive a 1996 law that has not been strictly enforced in the past. The law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, enacted by former President Bill Clinton,........

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