WASHINGTON (AP) — Parents who owe a significant amount of child support soon could lose their ability to travel internationally as the Trump administration expands and steps up enforcement of a 30-year-old law that allows the federal government to revoke American passports until payments are made, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

While passport revocations for unpaid child support of more than $2,500 have been permitted under 1996 federal legislation, the State Department had in the past acted only when someone applied to renew their travel document or sought other consular services. In other words, enforcement depended on the person approaching the department for assistance.

Starting soon, however, the department will begin to revoke passports on its own initiative based on data shared with it by the Health and Human Services Department, according to the U.S. officials familiar with the plan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the change has not yet been publicly announced.

The number of people who could be affected was not immediately clear, but it is believed to be in the thousands. Because of the potentially large universe of those owing child support who currently hold passports, the State Department will make the change in tiers, the officials said.

The first group to be affected will be passport holders who owe more than $100,000 in past-due child support, the officials said. One of the officials said fewer than 500 people meet that threshold and could avoid having their passport revoked if they enter into a payment plan with HHS after being notified of the pending revocation.

The official acknowledged, though, that if and when the threshold is lowered to a smaller past-due amount, the number of those affected will rise significantly. The official could not say when any further changes would take effect or estimate how many people might then lose their passports.

In an emailed response to the AP’s queries about the change, the State Department said 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.”

Since the Passport Denial Program began with the 1996 passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the initiative has taken in nearly $621 million in past-due child support payments, with nine collections of more than $300,000, according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement at the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS did not respond to questions about how many people are in arrears.

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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* The latest on the devastating mass shooting in British Columbia, Canada: “Police say eight people were killed and 27 more were injured after a mass shooting in the community of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Tuesday. The sole suspect was also found dead inside the school from ‘a self-inflicted injury,’ according to police. On Wednesday, police clarified that the death toll, including the suspect, stood at nine — and not 10, as previously reported.”

* An overdue withdrawal: “The Trump administration’s controversial deployment of National Guard troops to several cities led by Democrats ended in January, marking a muted retreat by President Donald Trump, who claimed the federal troops were needed to fight immigration-related crime. The withdrawal of the National Guard from Chicago; Los Angeles; and Portland, Oregon, began on Jan. 6 and ended Jan. 21, according to U.S. Northern Command.”

* A bizarre story out of Texas: “Federal Aviation Administration officials were forced to close El Paso’s airspace late Tuesday after the Defense Department decided to try out new anti-drone technology without giving aviation officials ample time to assess the risks to commercial airlines, according to four people briefed on the situation.

* An apparent reversal: “The National Governors Association said governors from both parties would be able to meet with President Donald Trump later this month after the White House initially extended invitations to a business meeting only to Republicans. ‘We’re pleased the president will welcome governors from all 55 states and territories to the White House,’ Brandon Tatum, the group’s chief executive, said Wednesday. It’s still unclear whether every governor will participate in the full White House event.”

* The right call: “The state government of Michigan was within its rights to refuse a request from the Trump administration to hand over personal information from state voter rolls, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. In a 23-page opinion, Judge Hala Y. Jarbou of the Federal District Court for the Western District of Michigan rejected the administration’s arguments that it was entitled to know Michigan voters’ personal information to ‘prevent the inclusion of ineligible voters’ and to combat what it called ‘voter fraud.’

* An unexpected deployment: “The U.S. is sending 200 troops to Nigeria to train the country’s military to fight Islamist militants, weeks after President Trump accused the West African government of failing to protect Christians from terrorist attacks, an American military official said Tuesday.”

* I wish this were more surprising: “Shortly after a Border Patrol agent shot a 30-year-old Chicago woman five times, Gregory Bovino, who was leading the federal government’s immigration raids across the city, reached out to offer his congratulations.”

* The White House sure does appear to have a social media problem: “Vice President JD Vance’s office deleted a social media post on Tuesday that broke with administration policy in acknowledging the Armenian genocide after Mr. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited a memorial to the estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks over a century ago.”

See you tomorrow.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”