Global Hostage Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1164 To impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons who engage in the hostage-taking or wrongful detention of United States citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 15, 2021 Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. YOUNG, and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons who engage in the hostage-taking or wrongful detention of United States citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Hostage Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 It is the sense of Congress that— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1164 IS (1) authoritarian governments and non-state 1 actors, including terrorist groups, continue to engage 2 in the hostage-taking and prolonged unlawful or 3 wrongful detention of United States citizens or 4 aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence in 5 order to make political demands or extract monetary 6 concessions; 7 (2) the United States Government should fully 8 utilize all necessary and appropriate measures to 9 prevent foreign governments or non-state actors 10 from engaging in such hostage-taking or detention, 11 including through the use of extradition to try and 12 convict the individuals who have participated in, or 13 are responsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise 14 directing, the hostage-taking or detention; and 15 (3) the United States should encourage its al- 16 lies and partners to pursue the criminal prosecution 17 and extradition of foreign government officials and 18 non-state actors that assist in or benefit from such 19 hostage-taking or detention to prevent such govern- 20 ments and non-state actors from engaging in such 21 hostage-taking or detention in the future. 22 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 23 It is the policy of the United States Government not 24 to pay ransom for the purpose of securing the release of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1164 IS United States citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for per- 1 manent residence who are taken hostage abroad. 2 SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO PO- 3 LITICALLY MOTIVATED DETENTIONS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 5 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall im- 6 pose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect 7 to any foreign person the President determines, based on 8 credible evidence, on or after the date of the enactment 9 of this Act— 10 (1) knowingly participates in, or is knowingly 11 responsible for or complicit in, ordering, controlling, 12 or otherwise directing, the politically motivated har- 13 assment, abuse, extortion, arrest, trial, conviction, 14 sentencing, or imprisonment of a United States cit- 15 izen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent res- 16 idence; 17 (2) provides significant financial, material, or 18 technological support for or to, or engages in a sig- 19 nificant transaction or a series of transactions total- 20 ing a significant amount with, a foreign person de- 21 scribed in paragraph (1); 22 (3) materially assists, sponsors, or provides fi- 23 nancial, material, or technological support for, or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1164 IS goods or services in support of, an activity described 1 in paragraph (1); or 2 (4) owns or controls or is owned or controlled 3 by a foreign person described in paragraphs (1), (2), 4 or (3). 5 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions to be 6 imposed with respect to a foreign person under subsection 7 (a) are the following: 8 (1) INADMISSIBILITY TO UNITED STATES.—In 9 the case of an alien subject to subsection (a)— 10 (A) denial of a visa to, and exclusion from 11 the United States of— 12 (i) the alien; and 13 (ii) any family member of the alien 14 who is also an alien; and 15 (B) revocation, in accordance with section 16 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 17 (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of any visa or other docu- 18 mentation of the alien or family member. 19 (2) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The blocking, in ac- 21 cordance with the International Emergency 22 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), 23 of all transactions in all property and interests 24 in property of a foreign person subject to sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1164 IS section (a) if such property and interests in 1 property are in the United States, come within 2 the United States, or come within the posses- 3 sion or control of a United States person. 4 (B) INAPPLICABILITY OF NATIONAL EMER- 5 GENCY REQUIREMENT.—The requirements of 6 section 202 of the International Emergency 7 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall 8 not apply for purposes of this subsection. 9 (c) EXCEPTIONS.— 10 (1) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NA- 11 TIONS HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Sanctions 12 under subsection (b)(1) shall not apply to an alien 13 if admitting the alien into the United States is nec- 14 essary to permit the United States to comply with 15 the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the 16 United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 17 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, 18 between the United Nations and the United States, 19 the Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vi- 20 enna April 24, 1963, and entered into force March 21 19, 1967, or other applicable international obliga- 22 tions. 23 (2) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF 24 GOODS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1164 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The authority to block 1 and prohibit all transactions in all property and 2 interests in property under subsection (b)(2) 3 shall not include the authority to impose sanc- 4 tions on the importation of goods. 5 (B) GOOD.—In this paragraph, the term 6 ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or manmade 7 substance, material, supply or manufactured 8 product, including inspection and test equip- 9 ment, and excluding technical data. 10 (d) CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION IN 11 IMPOSING SANCTIONS.—In determining whether to im- 12 pose sanctions under subsection (a), the President shall 13 consider— 14 (1) information provided jointly by the chair- 15 person and ranking member of each of the appro- 16 priate congressional committees; and 17 (2) credible information obtained by other coun- 18 tries and nongovernmental organizations that mon- 19 itor violations of human rights. 20 (e) REQUESTS BY APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL 21 COMMITTEES.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 23 receiving a request in writing from the chairperson 24 or ranking member of one of the appropriate con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1164 IS gressional committees with respect to whether a for- 1 eign person has engaged in an activity described in 2 subsection (a), the President shall— 3 (A) determine if that foreign person has 4 engaged in such an activity; and 5 (B) submit to the chairperson and ranking 6 member of the committee that submitted the re- 7 quest a report with respect to that determina- 8 tion that includes— 9 (i) a statement of whether or not the 10 President imposed or intends to impose 11 sanctions under subsection (a) with respect 12 to the foreign person; and 13 (ii) if the President imposed or in- 14 tends to impose sanctions, a description of 15 the sanctions. 16 (2) FORM OF REPORT.—A report submitted 17 under paragraph (1)(B) shall be submitted in un- 18 classified form but may include a classified annex. 19 (f) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 20 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex- 21 ercise all authorities provided to the President under 22 sections 203 and 205 of the International Emer- 23 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 24 1704) to carry out this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1164 IS (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at- 1 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 2 violation of subsection (b)(2) or any regulation, li- 3 cense, or order issued to carry out that subsection 4 shall be subject to the penalties set forth in sub- 5 sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter- 6 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 7 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 8 commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 9 of that section. 10 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 (1) ADMISSION; ADMITTED; ALIEN; LAWFULLY 12 ADMITTED FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE.—The 13 terms ‘‘admission’’, ‘‘admitted’’, ‘‘alien’’, and ‘‘law- 14 fully admitted for permanent residence’’ have the 15 meanings given those terms in section 101 of the 16 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101). 17 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 18 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 19 mittees’’ means— 20 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 21 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 22 Urban Affairs of the Senate; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1164 IS (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 1 the Committee on Financial Services of the 2 House of Representatives. 3 (3) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘‘family mem- 4 ber’’, with respect to an individual, means— 5 (A) a spouse, child, parent, sibling, sib- 6 ling’s child, grandchild, or grandparent of the 7 individual; and 8 (B) a child, parent, sibling, sibling’s child, 9 grandchild, or grandparent of a spouse of the 10 individual. 11 (4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per- 12 son’’ means an individual or entity that is not a 13 United States person. 14 (5) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 15 respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 16 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 17 have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 18 result. 19 (6) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 20 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 21 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law- 22 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 23 United States; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1164 IS (B) an entity organized under the laws of 1 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 2 United States, including a foreign branch of 3 such an entity. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1164.IS S1164 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS