[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5907 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5907
To criminalize transnational repression, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 6, 2023
Mr. Schiff (for himself, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Himes, Ms. Norton, Mr. Cohen,
Mr. Carson, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. McGovern, and Mr.
Case) introduced the following bill
October 25, 2023
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To criminalize transnational repression, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Transnational Repression Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Transnational repression is not currently codified or
defined in United States law.
(2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines
transnational repression as foreign government breach of
national borders through physical and digital means to
intimidate, silence, coerce, harass, or harm members of
diaspora and exile communities in violation of United States
law. Transnational repression is often used to silence
individuals who are perceived to oppose or are critical of a
government, including journalists, writers and artists, human
rights defenders, religious or ethnic minority groups, and
political opponents. Methods of transnational repression may
include physical and digital stalking, harassment, computer
hacking, phone tapping, INTERPOL abuse, criminal threats,
assaults, attempted kidnappings, coerced repatriation, and
detaining family members in the home country.
(3) Transnational repression is not limited to physical
acts of intimidation and harassment. According to Citizen Lab,
``digital transnational repression'' tools are used to
facilitate government reach beyond borders to gain access to
social media and email accounts, including through phishing
attacks, zero-click spyware hacks, social media page takedowns,
SIM card hacks, and fake invitations to conferences. For human
rights activists and dissidents, this has a serious impact on
their advocacy work and sense of security, even if they have
relocated to escape physical intimidation.
(4) On February 23, 2022, the National Security Division of
the Department of Justice launched a ``Strategy for Countering
Nation-State Threats'' in order to support a comprehensive,
``whole-of-government'' approach to addressing threats the
United States faces from hostile nations, including
transnational repression.
(5) Throughout 2022, the Department of Justice charged a
number of individuals with stalking, harassing, and illicitly
acting as agents of foreign governments, who allegedly
perpetrated transnational repression to silence United States
residents who were critics of the People's Republic of China.
(6) In January 2023, the Department of Justice announced
charges and arrests in a case involving an assassination plot
directed from Iran against a critic of the regime. The
Department stated, ``These charges are just the latest example
of individuals in Iran directing deadly violence on U.S.
soil.''.
(7) Transnational repression is a growing problem. The
Department of Justice has reported an ``alarming rise in plots
emanating from Iran, China, Russia, and elsewhere, targeting
people in the United States''. As of April 2023, Freedom House
has documented 854 direct, physical cases of transnational
repression that took place globally between 2014 and 2022.
(8) Freedom House recorded a total of 79 new incidents of
transnational repression globally committed by 20 governments
in 2022. Two governments, Bangladesh and Djibouti, were added
to the list of perpetrators, bringing the total number of
states engaged in transnational repression around the world to
38. The number of countries where acts of transnational
repression took place rose from 84 to 91 in 2022, including the
United States, according to Freedom House.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that hostile nations and authoritarian
regimes have increasingly and aggressively targeted individuals in the
United States and persons outside the United States. Agents of these
governments have acted outside diplomatic channels to threaten,
intimidate, harass, surveil, stalk, silence, and even plot to
physically harm or kidnap persons within U.S. borders. Although
transnational repression often involves actions that are already
prohibited by U.S. law, their foreign government backing render these
activities more dangerous than the underlying acts of intimidation or
harassment alone. Therefore, it is necessary to formally define and
criminalize transnational repression in Federal law, and to more
actively track and report on instances of transnational repression in
the United States and affecting United States persons. It is also
necessary to continue to work with foreign partners to address this
issue in a coordinated manner, including in multilateral settings.
SEC. 4. CRIMINALIZING TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.
(a) Offense.--Chapter 45 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 971. Transnational repression
``(a) In General.--Whoever knowingly commits an act of
transnational repression shall be fined under this title and imprisoned
not more than 10 years, or both, and if death or serious bodily injury
results from the act, or if such act include the use, attempted use, or
threatened use of a dangerous weapon, kidnapping or an attempt to
kidnap, or aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated
sexual abuse, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any
term of years or for life, or both.
``(b) Attempt or Conspiracy.--Whoever attempts or conspires to
commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same
penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which
was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.
``(c) Sentencing Enhancement.--Whoever knowingly commits, attempts,
or conspires to commit an offense under any other section of this title
at the direction of or under the control of a foreign government or
official or on behalf of their proxy while engaged in and in
furtherance of transnational repression shall, in addition to the
punishment authorized for such offense, be subject to a sentencing
enhancement of up to ten years in prison.
``(d) Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.--There is extraterritorial
Federal jurisdiction over an offense under this section.
``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Agent of a foreign government.--The term `agent of a
foreign government' means an individual who operates subject to
the direction or control of a foreign government or official.
``(2) Extrajudicial killing.--The term `extrajudicial
killing' means an act with the intention to or in the knowledge
that such act will end the life of another person, when that
act is not incident to lawful sanction, public necessity, self-
defense or the defense of others, or the law of armed conflict.
``(3) Proxy.--The term `proxy' means an individual acting
on behalf of an agent of a foreign government.
``(4) Transnational repression.--The term `transnational
repression' means any activity by a foreign government, or an
agent of a foreign government or a proxy thereof, that
satisfies each of the following:
``(A) The activity involves--
``(i) any effort intended to coerce,
harass, or digitally or physically threaten,
including by force or reasonable fear of death
or serious bodily injury or imprisonment of a
person or an immediate family member of a
person, a person to take an action in the
interest of a foreign government;
``(ii) any effort intended to harass or
coerce, including by force or fear, a person to
forebear from exercising their First Amendment
rights or any other right guaranteed to the
person by the Constitution or laws of the
United States, or to retaliate against a person
for having exercised such a right;
``(iii) an extrajudicial killing; or
``(iv) any act intended to further the
efforts specified in clause (i), (ii), or
(iii).
``(B) The activity is engaged in for or in the
interests of a foreign government.
``(C) The activity--
``(i) occurs, in whole or in part, in the
United States; or
``(ii) is committed against--
``(I) a United States person; or
``(II) a person in the United
States.
``(5) United states person.--The term `United States
person' has the meaning given such term in section 1637(d)(10)
of the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 1708(d)(10)).
``(6) Dangerous weapon.--The term `dangerous weapon' has
the meaning given the term in section 930(g)(2).''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 45 of
title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``971. Transnational repression.''.
(c) Predicate Offenses.--Part I of title 18, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in section 1956(c)(7)(D), by inserting ``section 971
(relating to transnational repression),'' before ``section 1005
(relating to fraudulent bank entries),'';
(2) in section 1961(1), by inserting ``section 971
(relating to transnational repression),'' before ``section 1028
(relating to fraud and related activity in connection with
identification documents),''; and
(3) in section 2516(1)--
(A) in paragraph (t), by striking ``or'';
(B) in paragraph (u), by striking the period and
inserting ``; or''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(v) any violation of section 951 of title 18
(relating to agents of foreign governments); any
violation of section 971 of title 18 (transnational
repression); and any felony violation of section 8 of
the Foreign Agents Registration Act (22 U.S.C. 618)
(relating to registration of agents of foreign
principals).''.
SEC. 5. CENTRALIZATION OF OVERSIGHT OF TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
PROSECUTIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS.
(a) National Security Division.--The Attorney General shall
centralize oversight of transnational repression prosecutions in the
National Security Division of the Department of Justice, or any
successor organization.
(b) Investigations.--The Attorney General, acting through the
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall centralize
oversight of transnational repression investigations in the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, or any successor organization.
SEC. 6. REPORTING ON TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.
(a) Reports.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Assistant Attorney General
for the National Security Division of the Department of Justice and the
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in consultation with
the Director of National Intelligence and the head of any other
department or agency the Assistant Attorney General and Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation determines appropriate, shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a joint report on incidents of
transnational repression against or otherwise impacting a United States
person. Each report shall contain the following:
(1) An overview of transnational repression in the United
States or against United States persons outside of the United
States, including the governments that perpetrate transnational
repression and the tactics that they use.
(2) A description of any activities that the Assistant
Attorney General of the National Security Division of the
Department of Justice or the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation determines to be substantially similar to
transnational repression that do not fall within the definition
of transnational repression.
(3) Subject to appropriate protections for sensitive
information regarding law enforcement investigations and
operations, a description of efforts during the previous
calendar year to disrupt transnational repression through
investigation and criminal prosecution.
(4) A description of efforts during the previous calendar
year by any agency of the United States Government to disrupt
transnational repression through means other than investigation
and criminal prosecution, including through diplomatic means.
(b) Form.--Each report submitted under subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee
on Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on
Intelligence of the Senate.
(2) Transnational repression.--The term ``transnational
repression'' has the meaning given the term in section 971 of
title 18, United States Code, as added by section 4.
SEC. 8. THE U.S. SENTENCING COMMISSION.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
U.S. Sentencing Commission shall promulgate or amend such sentencing
guideline as may be necessary to provide appropriate guideline
penalties for the offense conduct and penalty provisions established in
this Act, and amended by this Act, including enhanced penalties for
aggravated forms of any offense established in this Act.
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