U.S. Bipartisan Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Track Cases of Foreign Repression

Pictured: The U.S. Capitol. (Lisa/Dajiyuan)

[People News Report] Eight U.S. Congress members jointly introduced the bipartisan Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024, which requires the federal government to submit a report on cases of transnational repression occurring within the United States.

According to The Epoch Times reporter Wang Junyi, the main sponsor of the bill, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), stated in a press release, "As transnational repression intensifies, the American people have a right to know whether foreign governments are intimidating, harassing, harming, or killing individuals in the United States whom they perceive as hostile to their regimes."

He pointed out that transnational repression violates the fundamental rights of free speech and privacy for all individuals in the U.S.—including foreign citizens, U.S. residents, naturalized citizens, and citizens born in the U.S.

The bill requires the Attorney General, in coordination with other relevant federal agencies, to submit a comprehensive report on cases involving foreign governments and their agents targeting individuals in the U.S. and U.S. citizens abroad.

The press release cited FBI statistics, stating that the most frequent targets of transnational repression are political and human rights activists, dissidents, journalists, political opponents, and members of religious or ethnic minority groups.

"Forms of transnational repression include physical and digital surveillance, harassment, hacking, criminal intimidation, assault, attempted kidnapping, coerced repatriation, and detaining family members in the home country."

The bill notes that transnational repression against U.S. citizens or foreign nationals in the U.S. appears to be on the rise, particularly from China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and India.

The bill specifically mentions the CCP's transnational repression crimes, including the harassment and intimidation of Falun Gong practitioners and Shen Yun Performing Arts within the U.S.

"There is credible evidence that China (the CCP) is suppressing the freedom of Falun Gong members and obstructing the business operations of Shen Yun Performing Arts."

The bill points out that the CCP seeks to suppress the voices of critics through intimidation and harassment, particularly targeting Chinese citizens residing in the U.S. who have family, citizenship, or economic ties in mainland China or Hong Kong.

The bill also notes that the CCP continues to coerce members of the Uyghur community abroad by threatening their family members in China, monitors Tibetan activists, and uses Chinese-American citizens or CCP agents to infiltrate and surveil members of pro-democracy groups across the U.S.

The bill cites an incident in November last year when CCP-hired thugs assaulted protesters during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco. Dozens of protesters from China, Hong Kong, and Tibet were violently attacked, with more than ten people injured, three of whom were hospitalized.

Representative Schiff explained that the bill was introduced following an attempted assassination of a U.S. Sikh activist in 2023.

India has recently been embroiled in a transnational repression scandal, with U.S. and Canadian Sikh separatist leaders claiming they were threatened and harassed by Indian agents.

On Monday, October 14, the diplomatic dispute between Canada and India escalated following the assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada, resulting in both countries expelling six diplomats each.

Co-sponsors of the bill include Representatives Daniel S. Goldman (D-NY), David Valadao (R-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Barbara Lee (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

The bill has received support from organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the United Sikhs Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Sikh Coalition, the Sikh American Congress, the Sikh American Core Committee, the International Defenders Council, the Iranian American Public Affairs Alliance, the Center for Middle Eastern Democracy, the Hong Kong Democracy Council, the Hong Kong Freedom Committee Foundation, the Indian American Muslim Council, and the Falun Dafa Association.

Initially introduced in 2022 as the Stop Transnational Repression Act, which aimed to enhance prosecution and oversight of transnational repression cases, the bill was reintroduced in December 2023.

Last month, the bill was submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Judiciary Committee for review. Once the committees deliberate and modify the bill, it must be passed by both the House and Senate and signed by the President to become federal law.