The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported that its operatives intercepted three American men convicted of sex crimes in the United States after trying to enter the Philippines last week.

BI commissioner Norman Tansingco narrated that the men were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Mactan-Cebu International Airport and were immediately deported.

“Our country is off limits to these foreign sex predators,” Tansingco said.

Under Philippine law, foreigners convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude are barred from entering the country.

The BI said that a certain James Nicholas Ibach was stopped at the Cebu airport on 1 August after it was learned that he was convicted in 2019 of possessing child pornography. He was deported back to his point of origin.

Meantime, a certain Eusebio Garcia Gallegos arrived at the NAIA on 2 August and was also denied entry. A Texas court convicted him in 2003 of indecency with a child.

Another American identified as Clifton Lee Vaughan, on the other hand, was intercepted at NAIA on 5 Augusts. He was convicted in Missouri in 1983 of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl.

The three men were added to the immigration blacklist and are permanently banned from entering the Philippines.