S. 363 — STOP MADNESS Act

This section expresses the sense of Congress that (1) migrants who have unlawfully entered the United States are a threat to national security and should be repatriated to their countries of origin; (2) countries resisting repatriation of such citizens should be subject to economic sanctions denying access to the U.S. financial system; and (3) countries, entities, or individuals knowingly facilitating unlawful immigration into the United States should be subject to similar sanctions.

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act as follows: (1) appropriate congressional committees, meaning the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Financial Services; (2) foreign government, meaning any governing body or political organization exercising control over a foreign country or substantial portion thereof, including its ministries, agencies, officials, and owned or controlled entities; (3) foreign person, meaning an individual or entity that is not a United States person (excluding foreign governments); (4) knowingly, meaning a person has actual knowledge or should have known of the conduct, circumstance, or result; and (5) United States person, meaning a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, alien lawfully admitted to the United States (including for temporary residence, tourism, employment, or study), or entity organized under U.S. laws.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that foreign governments obstructing U.S. repatriation efforts of their citizens who have unlawfully entered the United States, and foreign governments and foreign persons knowingly facilitating unlawful immigration into the United States, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economy, posing a national emergency. The section states that it is U.S. policy to apply economic and other financial sanctions against such foreign governments and persons to protect national security.

This section authorizes the President to exercise all authorities under §§203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA; 50 U.S.C. 1702, 1704)—which enable regulation or prohibition of foreign exchange transactions, blocking of foreign property interests subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and confiscation of certain foreign property during armed hostilities—to carry out this Act. It further requires the President to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, not later than 180 days after enactment and annually thereafter until seven years after enactment, unclassified reports (with classified annexes permitted for specified matters) on executive branch actions pursuant to this Act or any national emergency declared regarding facilitation of unlawful immigration to the United States, including (1) issuance of new or revised regulations, policies, or guidance; (2) imposition of sanctions; (3) collection of relevant information from outside parties; (4) issuance or termination of general or specific licenses and statements of licensing policy by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control; (5) pending enforcement actions; and (6) implementation of mitigation procedures.

This section authorizes the President to impose blocking sanctions pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—prohibiting all transactions in property and interests in property within U.S. jurisdiction—on (1) foreign governments that knowingly refuse or obstruct U.S. repatriation of their citizens who have unlawfully entered the United States and (2) foreign governments or foreign persons that knowingly facilitate unlawful immigration into the United States. It further requires the President to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on executive branch actions regarding such governments and persons, not later than 180 days after enactment and annually thereafter for seven years.

This section (1) applies the civil and criminal penalties under subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705)—civil penalties not to exceed the greater of $250,000 or twice the amount of the transaction and criminal penalties of a fine not more than $1,000,000 or, if a natural person, imprisonment for not more than 20 years—to violations of the Act; (2) authorizes the President to waive sanctions under the Act with respect to a foreign government or foreign person if the President determines the waiver is in the national security interest of the United States; and (3) exempts from the Act (A) activities subject to the reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or authorized U.S. intelligence activities and (B) activities necessary to carry out or assist U.S. law enforcement activities.