H.R. 4829 — Transnational Repression Policy Act

This section cites the Act as the “Transnational Repression Policy Act” and provides a table of contents.

This section establishes the policy of the United States (1) to protect persons within the United States and U.S. nationals abroad from human rights violations by foreign governments or their agents; (2) to encourage cooperation with like-minded foreign partners to mitigate transnational repression; and (3) to pursue criminal prosecutions and other measures, such as mutual legal assistance, to hold foreign governments and their agents—including unregistered foreign agents—accountable for transnational repression, in accordance with U.S. law.

This section defines the term "transnational repression" as a range of tactics deployed by a foreign government, or agents or proxies thereof, to reach beyond its 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.

This section directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with heads of other appropriate federal agencies, to submit to the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and the Judiciary and the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and the Judiciary, not later than 270 days after enactment, a report containing a U.S. strategy to (1) increase international awareness of transnational repression (i.e., governments' extraterritorial targeting of dissidents, journalists, and activists); (2) raise costs to governments engaging in it through accountability and protection of targets; and (3) increase collaboration with allies and in multilateral organizations. The strategy must include (1) diplomatic efforts such as multilateral initiatives, regional coalitions, analysis of a potential UN special rapporteur on transnational repression, engagement with abusive foreign missions in the U.S., and public diplomacy; (2) sufficient funding for civil society and NGOs supporting victims and researching trends; and (3) U.S. law enforcement measures considering (A) legal updates including criminalizing information-gathering to enable harassment of diaspora communities and expanding definitions under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) and 18 U.S.C. 951 (agents of foreign governments), (B) interagency coordination on surveillance and export controls, (C) civil liberties impacts, (D) outreach to vulnerable communities, and (E) review of foreign governments' overseas police stations. Additionally, the report must identify, to the extent practicable, perpetrating and complicit governments and countries, complicit individuals in the U.S., and vulnerable groups; describe U.S. actions under existing authorities such as INA §212(a)(3)(C) (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(C)), the Global Magnitsky Act (§1263, 22 U.S.C. 10102), and related appropriations provisions; and be submitted unclassified with a possible classified annex, followed by annual implementation updates to the committees.

This section directs the Secretary of State to make training available to Department of State personnel, including overseas mission leadership as appropriate, on (1) tactics and practices used by transnational repression perpetrators; (2) governments known to employ such repression; (3) governments cooperating with them; (4) digital surveillance and other cyber tools used in such activities; and (5) U.S. policy priorities; and authorizes appropriations as necessary for FY2026 to develop and implement the curriculum. The section further requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Director of National Intelligence, civil society, and the business community, to provide similar training—plus information on U.S. communities and locations most vulnerable to transnational repression—to (1) specified Department of Homeland Security employees (i.e., U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and others); (2) Department of Justice employees (i.e., Federal Bureau of Investigation and INTERPOL Washington); (3) Office of Refugee Resettlement employees; (4) other federal, state, local law enforcement, and municipal officials at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; and (5) appropriate FBI private sector and community partners; and authorizes appropriations as necessary for FY2026 to develop and provide the curriculum and training.

This section directs the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to (1) publish, not later than 270 days after enactment, a toolkit or guide describing existing federal resources to assist and protect individuals and communities targeted by transnational repression in the United States; (2) conduct proactive outreach, in cooperation with other federal agencies, to inform targeted communities about criminal incidents to report to the FBI; (3) organize annual trainings for congressional offices' caseworker staff on transnational repression tactics and available resources; and (4) produce an assessment of how data purchased by governments perpetrating transnational repression is misused by entities exporting dual-use spyware, buying or selling personally identifiable information for tracking or surveillance of potential victims, or exporting Commerce Control List items usable for human rights abuses. It authorizes appropriations of such sums as necessary for FY2026 for the research, development, outreach, and training activities described.