Breaking Beijing’s Hold on Campus Act of 2024

Bill: 118-hr-7590
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Banks, Jim [R-IN-3]
Introduced: 2024-03-08
Policy area: Immigration
Latest action: action_date: 2024-03-08
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7590 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 8, 2024 Mr. Banks (for himself, Mr. Gallagher , and Mr. Moolenaar ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To impose certain conditions on the issuance of diplomatic and student visas to nationals of certain covered nations.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Breaking Beijing’s Hold on Campus Act of 2024 . 2. Certain conditions on the issuance of diplomatic and student visas Section 214 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.) is amended by adding at the end the following: (s) Certain conditions on the issuance of diplomatic and student visas (1) Certain conditions on the issuance of diplomatic visas An alien who is a national of a covered nation may not be accorded status as a nonimmigrant under subparagraph (A) or (G) of section 101(a)(15) until the alien submits a certification that the alien— (A) will not engage in any efforts to collect or transmit information concerning, open any lines of communication with, or encourage other persons to report on, any student that is a national of a covered nation for the purposes of— (i) monitoring whether such student is exercising their rights protected under the Constitution and laws of the United States in a way that the government or ruling party of a covered nation may oppose; or (ii) for suppressing said exercise of rights; (B) will not engage in any efforts to collect or transmit information concerning, open any lines of communication with, or encourage other persons to report on, any student with a family member that resides in a covered nation for the purposes of— (i) monitoring whether such student is exercising their rights protected under the Constitution and laws of the United States in a way that the government or ruling party of a covered nation opposes; or (ii) for suppressing said exercise of rights; and (C) will not engage in any other form of transnational repression on behalf of any government or ruling party of a covered nation or any agent of a covered nation. (2) Certain conditions on the issuance of student visa An alien who is a national of a covered nation may not be accorded status as a nonimmigrant under subparagraph (F), (J), or (M) of section 101(a)(15) until the alien submits a certification that the alien— (A) will not report on students who are nationals of a covered nation to the government, the ruling party, or an agent of a covered nation, or to any agent or government for the purpose of sharing such information with a government, ruling party, or agent of a covered nation, for that student’s exercise of rights protected under the Constitution and laws of the United States; (B) will not report on any student with a family member that resides in a covered nation to the government, the ruling party, or an agent of that covered nation for that student’s exercise of rights protected under the Constitution and laws of the United States; and (C) will not engage in any other form of transnational repression on behalf of a covered nation or any agent of a covered nation. (3) Definitions In this subsection: (A) Covered nation The term covered nation means the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, or the Democractic People’s Republic of Korea. (B) Institution of higher education The term institution of higher education has the meaning given to it in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1001 ). (C) Transnational repression The term transnational repression means any action by a foreign government, a ruling party of a foreign country, or any person operating on behalf of a government or ruling party of a foreign country that meets each of the following criteria: (i) The action involves— (I) any effort intended to intimidate or coerce a person to take an action in the interest of a government or ruling party of a foreign country; (II) any effort intended to intimidate or coerce a person to take an action to prevent that person from exercising a right protected under the Constitution or laws of the United States; (III) any effort to engage in an extrajudicial killing or abduction to prevent that person from exercising a right protected under the Constitution or laws of the United States; or (IV) providing support to an effort described in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii). (ii) The activity is engaged in for the purpose of suppressing dissent against or otherwise advancing the interests of a government or ruling party of a foreign country. (iii) The activity occurs, in whole or in part, in the United States and is committed against a United States person or a person in the United States. (4) Violations (A) If the Secretary of State determines, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, that an alien has committed any act in violation of a certification made under paragraph (1) or (2), any status as a nonimmigrant accorded to that alien shall be terminated immediately. (B) If the Secretary of State determines, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, that any other nonimmigrant who is a national of a covered nation has acted as an agent of that country and has engaged in any conduct described in clauses (i) through (iii) of paragraph (2)(A), any status as a nonimmigrant accorded to that alien shall be terminated immediately. . 3. Prior notification of certain travel (a) In general The Secretary of State shall require any member of a foreign mission (as such term is defined in section 202 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956) of a covered nation (as such term is defined in section 214(s)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act) seeking to visit any institution of higher education or any other research institution in the United States to submit to the Secretary— (1) a prior notification of their intent to visit said institution; and (2) a request for approval to visit said institution. (b) Limitation on approval The Secretary may not grant such request for approval before the date that is 30 days after an unclassified notification of the request to visit is submitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and a notification of the request is provided to the Secretary of Education. (c) Visit defined For the purposes of this section, the term “visit” means an individual being present on the premises of an institution of higher education, or any other research institution in the United States, as well as being present on the premises of any facility owned or leased by said institutions.