Sec. 703. Prohibition on entry of officials of foreign governments involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights
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Officials of foreign governments, and their immediate family members, about whom the Secretary has credible information have been involved, directly or indirectly, in significant corruption, including corruption related to the extraction of natural resources, or a gross violation of human rights, including the wrongful detention of locally employed staff of a United States diplomatic mission or a United States citizen or national, shall be ineligible for entry into the United States.
Concurrent with the application of paragraph (1), the Secretary shall, as appropriate, refer the matter to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury to determine whether to apply sanctions authorities in accordance with United States law to block the transfer of property and interests in property, and all financial transactions, in the United States involving any person described in such paragraph. The Secretary shall also publicly or privately designate or identify the officials of foreign governments about whom the Secretary has such credible information, and their immediate family members, without regard to whether the individual has applied for a visa.
Individuals shall not be ineligible for entry into the United States pursuant to subsection
(a)if such entry would further important United States law enforcement objectives or is necessary to permit the United States to fulfill its obligations under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement. Nothing in subsection
(a)shall be construed to derogate from United States obligations under applicable international agreements. The Secretary may waive the application of subsection
(a)if the Secretary determines that the waiver would serve a compelling national interest or that the circumstances that caused the individual to be ineligible have changed sufficiently. Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees, the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives a report, including a classified annex if necessary, that includes— a description of information related to corruption or violation of human rights concerning each of the individuals found ineligible in the previous 12 months pursuant to subsection (a)(1) as well as the individuals who the Secretary designated or identified pursuant to subsection (a)(3), or who would be ineligible but for the application of subsection (b); and a list of any waivers provided under subsection (c), together with a justification for each waiver. Each report required under paragraph
(1)shall be submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified annex. The Secretary shall make available to the public on a publicly accessible internet website of the Department the unclassified portion of each report required under paragraph (1). For purposes of subsections
(a)and (d), the records of the Department and of diplomatic and consular offices of the United States pertaining to the issuance or refusal of visas or permits to enter the United States shall not be considered confidential.