Title: ESCAPE of Saudi Nationals Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Examining Saudi Consular Activities Promoting Extraction Act or the ESCAPE of Saudi Nationals Act
This bill directs the Department of State to report to Congress on instances where Saudi Arabian diplomats or affiliated individuals may have helped Saudi nationals leave the United States to escape criminal prosecution.
The bill also prohibits a foreign country's diplomatic mission from owning real property in the United States if the State Department determines that such mission helped one of its nationals leave the United States to evade prosecution for a crime.


[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 231 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 231

 To express the sense of Congress regarding the likely involvement of 
  the Government of Saudi Arabia in assisting no fewer than two Saudi 
 nationals to avoid criminal prosecution in the United States, and to 
  require the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress that 
          describes such involvement, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             January 25 (legislative day, January 24), 2019

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To express the sense of Congress regarding the likely involvement of 
  the Government of Saudi Arabia in assisting no fewer than two Saudi 
 nationals to avoid criminal prosecution in the United States, and to 
  require the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress that 
          describes such involvement, 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 TITLES.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Examining Saudi Consular Activities 
Promoting Extraction Act'' or the ``ESCAPE of Saudi Nationals Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On August 19, 2016, a vehicle driven by Abdhulrahman 
        Sameer Noorah, a Saudi national, struck and killed a 15-year-
        old Portland, Oregon, native while driving between 55 and 60 
        miles per hour, approximately twice the posted speed limit.
            (2) Saudi Arabia's Los Angeles consulate reportedly posted 
        $100,000 bail to secure the release of Mr. Noorah.
            (3) On June 17, 2017, while awaiting trial for indictments 
        of manslaughter, felony hit-and-run, and reckless driving, Mr. 
        Noorah arrived in Saudi Arabia from Oregon, despite having 
        surrendered his Saudi passport to Oregon law enforcement 
        authorities.
            (4) Officials from the Department of Homeland Security and 
        the United States Marshals Service have publicly revealed that 
        the Government of Saudi Arabia likely played a role in Mr. 
        Noorah's repatriation back to Saudi Arabia.
            (5) The Saudi consulate in Los Angeles is reported to have 
        posted bond for at least 4 additional Saudi nationals: 
        Abdulaziz Al Duways, Waleed Ali Alharthi, Suliman Ali Algwaiz, 
        and Ali Hussain Alhamoud, who--
                    (A) were charged with serious criminal offenses in 
                Oregon, beginning in 2012;
                    (B) fled from the custody of law enforcement 
                authorities; and
                    (C) are still at large.
            (6) The Saudi consulate in Los Angeles posted a $100,000 
        bond for Ali Hussain Alhamoud, a Saudi national, who 
        subsequently fled Oregon for Saudi Arabia in 2012 before facing 
        trial on multiple sex-crime charges, including rape in the 
        first degree.
            (7) Saudi national and Portland University student, Suliman 
        Ali Algwaiz, faced charges in 2016 for striking a homeless man 
        with his vehicle, but he disappeared before completing his jail 
        sentence.
            (8) The Saudi consulate posted a $500,000 security deposit 
        for Waleed Ali Alharthi, an Oregon State University student and 
        Saudi national, who was arrested in 2015 on 10 counts of 
        encouraging child sex abuse before fleeing to Paris, France, in 
        the midst of court hearings.
            (9) The Saudi consulate posted a $500,000 bond for 
        Abdulaziz Al Duways, a Western Oregon University Student and 
        Saudi national, who was arrested in 2014 on the charge of rape, 
        but subsequently disappeared before standing trial for the 
        charge.
            (10) Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic 
        Relations, done at Vienna April 18, 1961, states--
                    (A) ``it is the duty of all persons enjoying 
                [diplomatic] privileges and immunities to respect the 
                laws and regulations of the receiving State''; and
                    (B) such persons ``also have a duty to not 
                interfere in the internal affairs of that State''.
            (11) The Government of Saudi Arabia's flaunting of 
        international norms and diplomatic law follows a pattern of 
        disturbing behavior, including--
                    (A) the brutal murder of Washington Post 
                contributor and United States resident Jamal Khashoggi 
                in a Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey;
                    (B) the jailing of prominent women rights 
                activists, Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sada, and the 
                ongoing detention of countless others, such as blogger 
                Raif Badawi and human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-
                Khair;
                    (C) failing to avoid civilian casualties in its use 
                of military force in the Yemeni civil war;
                    (D) the shakedown of Saudi royals in the Ritz 
                Carlton hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and
                    (E) the detention of the Lebanese Prime Minister, 
                Saad al-Hariri, against his will.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Secretary of State should engage with the highest 
        levels of the Government of Saudi Arabia to advocate for the 
        immediate extradition of Mr. Noorah, Mr. Alhamoud, and any 
        other Saudi national or citizen charged with a criminal offense 
        committed in the United States back to the appropriate 
        authorities in the United States;
            (2) the apparent involvement of the Government of the 
        Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the removal of Mr. Noorah violates 
        Oregon Statute 162.325, which prohibits providing a person with 
        money, transportation, weapon, disguise, or any other means of 
        avoiding discovery or apprehension, and should be condemned;
            (3) the Attorney General, in coordination with relevant 
        Federal and State authorities, should investigate--
                    (A) whether any Saudi diplomat or agent of the 
                Government of Saudi Arabia--
                            (i) furnished Mr. Noorah with a fraudulent 
                        passport; or
                            (ii) assisted him in traveling to Saudi 
                        Arabia on or before June 17, 2018; and
                    (B) the degree to which any party or parties 
                assisted in the removal of Mr. Alhamoud from Oregon to 
                Saudi Arabia in 2012;
            (4) the President should declare any individual enjoying 
        diplomatic or consular immunity who protected a party from the 
        criminal jurisdiction of the United States as a ``persona non 
        grata''; and
            (5) the Department of State should not accredit any Saudi 
        diplomat to serve in the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles until--
                    (A) Abdhulrahman Noorah and Ali Hussain Alhamoud 
                are returned to the United States to face criminal 
                charges brought against them; and
                    (B) the United States finds no reasonable cause to 
                conclude that a Saudi diplomat or agent of the Saudi 
                government aided in the transport of either individual 
                back to Saudi Arabia.

SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Defined Term.--In this section, the term ``appropriate 
congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
            (2) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
            (3) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (4) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
        Representatives.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit 
        a report to the appropriate congressional committees that 
        describes the degree to which any citizen of the Kingdom of 
        Saudi Arabia, who enjoys diplomatic immunity from criminal 
        jurisdiction in the United States, has assisted in the removal 
        of any Saudi citizen in the United States for the purposes of 
        evading criminal prosecution.
            (2) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form.
    (c) Report on Cases Involving Diplomatic Immunity.--Any conclusions 
reached during the preparation of the report required under subsection 
(b) shall be included in the 2018 Report on Cases Involving Diplomatic 
Immunity pursuant to sections 56 and 204B of the State Department Basic 
Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2728 and 4303b).

SEC. 5. RESTRICTION ON FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF REAL PROPERTY IN 
              THE UNITED STATES.

    Section 205(b) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 
1956 (22 U.S.C. 4305(b)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as 
        subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and by moving 
        such subparagraphs 2 ems to the right;
            (2) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Evading prosecution.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Real property in the United 
                States may not be maintained by any foreign mission of 
                a foreign country if the Secretary of State, after 
                consultation with the Attorney General, determines that 
                such foreign mission has aided in the removal of a 
                citizen or national of its country from the United 
                States with the effect of evading the prosecution of 
                such citizen or national for 1 or more criminal 
                offenses committed in the United States.
                    ``(B) Waiver.--The President may waive the 
                application of subparagraph (A) if, not later than 60 
                days after the submission of the report required under 
                section (4)(b) of the ESCAPE of Saudi Nationals Act, 
                the President designates each individual identified in 
                such report as enjoying diplomatic or consular immunity 
                who protected a party from the criminal jurisdiction of 
                the United States as a persona non grata.''.
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