Global Hostage Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2776 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 NOVEMBER 5, 2019 Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on For- eign 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 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 It is the sense of Congress that— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2776 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— 12 (A) the use of extradition to try and con- 13 vict the individuals who have participated in, or 14 are responsible for ordering, controlling, or oth- 15 erwise directing, the hostage-taking or deten- 16 tion; and 17 (B) the use of the Human Rights Violators 18 and War Crimes Unit of the Department of 19 Homeland Security to target such individuals; 20 and 21 (3) the United States should encourage its al- 22 lies and partners to pursue the criminal prosecution 23 and extradition of foreign government officials and 24 non-state actors that assist in or benefit from such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2776 IS hostage-taking or detention to prevent such govern- 1 ments and non-state actors from engaging in such 2 hostage-taking or detention in the future. 3 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 4 It is the policy of the United States Government not 5 to pay ransom for the purpose of securing the release of 6 United States citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for per- 7 manent residence who are taken hostage abroad. 8 SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO PO- 9 LITICALLY MOTIVATED DETENTIONS. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 11 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall im- 12 pose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect 13 to any foreign person the President determines, based on 14 credible evidence, on or after the date of the enactment 15 of this Act— 16 (1) knowingly participates in, or is knowingly 17 responsible for or complicit in, ordering, controlling, 18 or otherwise directing, the politically motivated har- 19 assment, abuse, extortion, arrest, trial, conviction, 20 sentencing, or imprisonment of a United States cit- 21 izen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent res- 22 idence; 23 (2) provides significant financial, material, or 24 technological support for or to, or engages in a sig- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2776 IS nificant transaction or a series of transactions total- 1 ing a significant amount with, a foreign person de- 2 scribed in paragraph (1); 3 (3) materially assists, sponsors, or provides fi- 4 nancial, material, or technological support for, or 5 goods or services in support of, an activity described 6 in paragraph (1); or 7 (4) owns or controls or is owned or controlled 8 by a foreign person described in paragraphs (1), (2), 9 or (3). 10 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions to be 11 imposed with respect to a foreign person under subsection 12 (a) are the following: 13 (1) INADMISSIBILITY TO UNITED STATES.—In 14 the case of an alien subject to subsection (a)— 15 (A) denial of a visa to, and exclusion from 16 the United States of— 17 (i) the alien; and 18 (ii) any family member of the alien 19 who is also an alien; and 20 (B) revocation, in accordance with section 21 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 22 (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of any visa or other docu- 23 mentation of the alien or family member. 24 (2) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2776 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The blocking, in ac- 1 cordance with the International Emergency 2 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), 3 of all transactions in all property and interests 4 in property of a foreign person subject to sub- 5 section (a) if such property and interests in 6 property are in the United States, come within 7 the United States, or come within the posses- 8 sion or control of a United States person. 9 (B) INAPPLICABILITY OF NATIONAL EMER- 10 GENCY REQUIREMENT.—The requirements of 11 section 202 of the International Emergency 12 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall 13 not apply for purposes of this subsection. 14 (c) EXCEPTIONS.— 15 (1) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NA- 16 TIONS HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Sanctions 17 under subsection (b)(1) shall not apply to an alien 18 if admitting the alien into the United States is nec- 19 essary to permit the United States to comply with 20 the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the 21 United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 22 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, 23 between the United Nations and the United States, 24 the Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Nov 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2776 IS enna April 24, 1963, and entered into force March 1 19, 1967, or other applicable international obliga- 2 tions. 3 (2) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF 4 GOODS.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authority to block 6 and prohibit all transactions in all property and 7 interests in property under subsection (b)(2) 8 shall not include the authority to impose sanc- 9 tions on the importation of goods. 10 (B) GOOD.—In this paragraph, the term 11 ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or manmade 12 substance, material, supply or manufactured 13 product, including inspection and test equip- 14 ment, and excluding technical data. 15 (d) CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION IN 16 IMPOSING SANCTIONS.—In determining whether to im- 17 pose sanctions under subsection (a), the President shall 18 consider— 19 (1) information provided jointly by the chair- 20 person and ranking member of each of the appro- 21 priate congressional committees; and 22 (2) credible information obtained by other coun- 23 tries and nongovernmental organizations that mon- 24 itor violations of human rights. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2776 IS (e) REQUESTS BY APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL 1 COMMITTEES.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 3 receiving a request in writing from the chairperson 4 or ranking member of one of the appropriate con- 5 gressional committees with respect to whether a for- 6 eign person has engaged in an activity described in 7 subsection (a), the President shall— 8 (A) determine if that foreign person has 9 engaged in such an activity; and 10 (B) submit to the chairperson and ranking 11 member of the committee that submitted the re- 12 quest a report with respect to that determina- 13 tion that includes— 14 (i) a statement of whether or not the 15 President imposed or intends to impose 16 sanctions under subsection (a) with respect 17 to the foreign person; and 18 (ii) if the President imposed or in- 19 tends to impose sanctions, a description of 20 the sanctions. 21 (2) FORM OF REPORT.—A report submitted 22 under paragraph (1)(B) shall be submitted in un- 23 classified form but may include a classified annex. 24 (f) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2776 IS (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex- 1 ercise all authorities provided to the President under 2 sections 203 and 205 of the International Emer- 3 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 4 1704) to carry out this section. 5 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at- 6 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 7 violation of subsection (b)(2) or any regulation, li- 8 cense, or order issued to carry out that subsection 9 shall be subject to the penalties set forth in sub- 10 sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter- 11 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 12 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 13 commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 14 of that section. 15 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 (1) ADMISSION; ADMITTED; ALIEN; LAWFULLY 17 ADMITTED FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE.—The 18 terms ‘‘admission’’, ‘‘admitted’’, ‘‘alien’’, and ‘‘law- 19 fully admitted for permanent residence’’ have the 20 meanings given those terms in section 101 of the 21 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101). 22 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 24 mittees’’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2776 IS (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 1 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 2 Urban Affairs of the Senate; and 3 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 4 the Committee on Financial Services of the 5 House of Representatives. 6 (3) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘‘family mem- 7 ber’’, with respect to an individual, means— 8 (A) a spouse, child, parent, sibling, sib- 9 ling’s child, grandchild, or grandparent of the 10 individual; and 11 (B) a child, parent, sibling, sibling’s child, 12 grandchild, or grandparent of a spouse of the 13 individual. 14 (4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per- 15 son’’ means an individual or entity that is not a 16 United States person. 17 (5) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 18 respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 19 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 20 have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 21 result. 22 (6) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 23 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2776 IS (A) a United States citizen or an alien law- 1 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 2 United States; or 3 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 4 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 5 United States, including a foreign branch of 6 such an entity. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2776.IS S2776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS