119-s2525

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2525 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2525

 To address transnational repression by foreign governments against 
 private individuals, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 July 29, 2025

 Mr. Merkley (for himself and Mr. Sullivan) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign 
 Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To address transnational repression by foreign governments against 
 private individuals, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Transnational 
Repression Policy Act''.

    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Statement of policy.

Sec. 3. Defined term.

Sec. 4. Interagency strategy.

Sec. 5. Training.

Sec. 6. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice 
 efforts to combat transnational repression 
 in the United States.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

 It is the policy of the United States--

    (1) to protect persons within the United States, and United 
 States nationals who are outside of the United States, from 
 actions by foreign governments, or individuals acting on behalf 
 of foreign governments, that violate internationally recognized 
 human rights;

    (2) to encourage cooperation with like-minded foreign 
 partners to mitigate transnational repression; and

    (3) to pursue criminal prosecutions, as appropriate, and 
 undertake other steps, such as facilitating mutual legal 
 assistance, in accordance with United States law, to hold 
 foreign governments and individuals acting on behalf of foreign 
 governments, including unregistered foreign agents, accountable 
 for engaging in transnational repression.

SEC. 3. DEFINED TERM.

 In this Act, the term ``transnational repression'' refers to a 
range of tactics deployed by a foreign government, or agents or proxies 
of a foreign government, to reach beyond their borders to intimidate, 
silence, harass, coerce, or harm individuals, such as political 
dissidents, activists, journalists, political opponents, religious and 
ethnic minority groups, international students, and members of diaspora 
and exile communities.

SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY STRATEGY.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the 
heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, shall 
submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, 
the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the House of Representatives that contains a United States 
strategy--

    (1) to increase international awareness of transnational 
 repression;

    (2) to raise the costs borne by governments engaging in 
 transnational repression by holding such governments 
 accountable and protecting targeted individuals and groups; and

    (3) to increase collaboration and coordination concerning 
 transnational repression with like-minded allies and partners 
 and in multilateral venues and international organizations.

    (b) Matters To Be Included.--

    (1) Diplomacy.--The strategy required under subsection

    (a) shall include--
        (A) a strategy for advancing joint initiatives in 
 multilateral and international organizations to expand 
 awareness, accountability, and best practices to 
 mitigate and build capacity to counter transnational 
 repression;
        (B) a plan for establishing or strengthening 
 regional and international coalitions to monitor and 
 respond to cases of transnational repression, including 
 reprisals faced by human rights defenders and other 
 activists for engaging at multilateral organizations, 
 such as the United Nations;
            (C) an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages 
 of the designation of a special rapporteur for 
 transnational repression appointed by the Secretary-
 General of the United Nations;
            (D) a plan for engaging with foreign diplomatic or 
 consular missions in the United States whose personnel 
 abuse intimidate, threaten, attack, or undermine the 
 human rights and fundamental freedoms of exiles and 
 members of diasporas in the United States; and
        (E) a description of the public affairs and public 
 diplomacy efforts, including at multilateral 
 institutions and international exchanges, to be used to 
 draw critical attention to, and oppose acts of, 
 transnational repression.

    (2) Assistance programming.--The strategy shall include 
 sufficient funding for civil society and nongovernmental 
 organizations that support victims of transnational repression 
 and conduct research and analysis of global trends and 
 incidents of transnational repression.

    (3) Law enforcement in the united states.--The strategy 
 shall--
        (A) consider updates to United States law to 
 address tactics of transnational repression, 
 including--
            (i) the criminalization of gathering 
 information about private individuals in 
 diaspora and exile communities on behalf of, or 
 enabling the ability of, a foreign government 
 to harass, intimidate, or harm an individual 
 due to membership in such a community; and
            (ii) the expansion of the definition of 
 foreign agents under the Foreign Registrations 
 Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) and 

section 951 of title 18, United States Code;
        (B) coordinate between the Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation, the Department of State, the Department 
 of Homeland Security, United States intelligence 
 agencies, and domestic law enforcement agencies in 
 partner countries, including options for countering the 
 use of surveillance technology and export licensing 
 policy in transnational repression;
            (C) consider unintended negative impacts of 
 expanded legal authorities on the civil liberties of 
 communities targeted by transnational repression, 
 taking into account the views of affected communities;
            (D) develop outreach strategies to connect law 
 enforcement and local municipal officials with targeted 
 diaspora communities to ensure individuals who are 
 vulnerable to transnational repression are aware of the 
 Federal and local resources available without putting 
 them at further risk, including policy and programmatic 
 responses based on input from such communities; and
        (E) examine and review the legality of foreign 
 governments establishing overseas police service 
 stations, or equivalent facilities, to monitor members 
 of the diaspora.
            (c) Additional Matters To Be Included.--In addition to the matters 
set forth in subsection

    (b) , the report required under subsection

    (a) should include--

    (1) to the extent practicable, information regarding--
        (A) the governments that perpetrate transnational 
 repression;
        (B) countries in which incidents of transnational 
 repression are prevalent;
            (C) governments that are complicit in aiding 
 transnational repression;
            (D) individuals, whether United States citizens or 
 foreign nationals, who are complicit in transnational 
 repression as agents or proxies of a foreign government 
 and are operating in the United States, unless 
 identifying those individuals could interfere with law 
 enforcement efforts; and
        (E) groups of people that are most vulnerable to 
 transnational repression in the United States and, to 
 the extent possible, in foreign countries; and

    (2) a description of any actions taken by the United States 
 Government to address transnational repression under existing 
 law, including--
        (A) section 212

    (a)

    (3)
            (C) of the Immigration and 
 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182

    (a)

    (3)
            (C) );
        (B) section 1263 of the Global Magnitsky Human 
 Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10102);
            (C) section 7031
            (c) of the Department of State, 
 Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations 
 Act, 2020 (division G of Public Law 116-94; 8 U.S.C. 
 1182 note);
            (D) prosecutions and the statutory authority 
 authorizing such prosecutions; and
        (E) which agencies are conducting outreach to 
 victims of transnational repression and the form of 
 such outreach.
            (d) Form.--The strategy required under subsection

    (a) shall be 
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex, if 
necessary.

    (e) Updates.--The Secretary of State shall provide the 
congressional committee referred to in subsection

    (a) with annual 
updates regarding the implementation of such strategy.

SEC. 5. TRAINING.

    (a) Department of State Personnel.--

    (1) In general.--The Secretary of State should make 
 training available to Department of State personnel, including 
 overseas mission leadership, as appropriate, and if it pertains 
 to their countries of assignment, with respect to--
        (A) tactics and practices used by perpetrators;
        (B) governments known to employ transnational 
 repression;
            (C) governments that cooperate with other 
 governments engaged in transnational repression;
            (D) tools of digital surveillance and other cyber 
 tools used in transnational repression activities; and
        (E) United States policy priorities.

    (2) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
 to be appropriated such amounts as may be necessary for fiscal 
 year 2026 to develop and implement the curriculum described in 
 paragraph

    (1) .

    (b) United States Officials Responsible for Domestic Threats of 
Transnational Repression.--

    (1) In general.--To better recognize and prevent 
 transnational repression, the Attorney General, in consultation 
 with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of 
 National Intelligence, civil society, and the business 
 community, shall provide training with respect to--
        (A) tactics and practices used by perpetrators;
        (B) governments known to employ transnational 
 repression;
            (C) which communities and locations in the United 
 States are most vulnerable to transnational repression;
            (D) tools of digital surveillance and other cyber 
 tools used in transnational repression activities; and
        (E) United States policy priorities.

    (2) Training recipients.--Those receiving the training 
 described in paragraph

    (1) should be--
        (A) employees or task force members of--
            (i) the Department of Homeland Security, 
 including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 
 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and 
 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 
 any other employees the Secretary of Homeland 
 Security determines should receive such 
 training;
            (ii) the Department of Justice, including 
 the--
            (I) Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation; and
            (II) INTERPOL Washington; and
            (iii) the Office of Refugee Resettlement of 
 the Department of Health and Human Services;
        (B) other Federal, State, and local law enforcement 
 and municipal officials receiving instruction at the 
 Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; and
            (C) appropriate private sector and community 
 partners of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    (3) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
 to be appropriated such amounts as may be necessary for fiscal 
 year 2026 to develop and provide the curriculum and training 
 described in paragraph

    (1) .

SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 
 EFFORTS TO COMBAT TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION IN THE UNITED 
 STATES.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the Federal Bureau 
of Investigation, shall--

    (1) not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment 
 of this Act, publish a toolkit or guide that describes existing 
 Federal resources to assist and protect individuals and 
 communities targeted by transnational repression in the United 
 States;

    (2) in cooperation with the heads of other Federal 
 agencies, conduct proactive outreach so that individuals in 
 targeted communities are informed about the types of criminal 
 incidents that should be reported to the Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation;

    (3) organize annual trainings with caseworker staff in 
 congressional offices regarding the tactics of transnational 
 repression and the resources available to constituents; and

    (4) produce an assessment of how data that is purchased by 
 governments perpetrating transnational repression is misused 
 by--
        (A) entities that are exporting dual-use spyware 
 technology to any governments engaged in transnational 
 repression;
        (B) entities that are buying and selling personally 
 identifiable information that can be used to track and 
 surveil potential victims; and
            (C) entities that are exporting items on the 
 Commerce Control List (as set forth in Supplement No. 1 
 to part 774 of the Export Administration Regulations 
 under subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code of 
 Federal Regulations) to any governments engaged in 
 transnational repression that can be misused for human 
 rights abuses.

    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated such amounts as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026 for 
the research, development, outreach, and training activities described 
in subsection

    (a) .
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