HR 419 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Protecting America From Spies Act
To amend section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to ensure that efforts to engage in espionage or technology transfer are considered in visa issuance, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to expand visa denial grounds to include aliens involved in espionage, sabotage, or violations of export control laws prohibiting the transfer of technology and sensitive information from the United States. It also makes inadmissible aliens seeking to enter the United States to engage in unlawful activity or to oppose or overthrow the U.S. government by force or illegal means. Spouses and children of such inadmissible aliens are also made inadmissible if the triggering activity occurred within the preceding five years. The bill eliminates certain waivers that previously applied to these grounds for visa denial.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Cline, Ben [R-VA-6] (R-VA)
9 cosponsors
- Rep. Bergman, Jack [R-MI-1] (R-MI)
- Rep. Donalds, Byron [R-FL-19] (R-FL)
- Rep. Green, Mark E. [R-TN-7] (R-TN)
- Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6] (R-WI)
- Rep. Higgins, Clay [R-LA-3] (R-LA)
- Rep. Luna, Anna Paulina [R-FL-13] (R-FL)
- Rep. Ogles, Andrew [R-TN-5] (R-TN)
- Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17] (R-FL)
- Rep. Weber, Randy K. Sr. [R-TX-14] (R-TX)
Actions (2)
- Jan 15, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Jan 15, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 15, 2025
Mr. Cline (for himself, Mr. Bergman, Mr. Ogles, and Mr. Higgins of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to ensure that efforts to engage in espionage or technology transfer are considered in visa issuance, 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 TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Protecting America From Spies Act”.
SEC. 2. EXPANDING INADMISSIBILITY ON SECURITY AND RELATED GROUNDS.
(a) In General.—Section 212(a)(3)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(A)) is amended to read as follows:
“(A) In general.—Any alien is inadmissible if a consular officer, an immigration officer, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Attorney General knows, or has reasonable ground to believe, that the alien—
“(i) engages, has engaged, or will engage in any activity—
“(I) in violation of any law of the United States relating to espionage or sabotage; or
“(II) that would violate any law of the United States relating to espionage or sabotage if the activity occurred in the United States;
“(ii) engages, has engaged, or will engage in any activity in violation or evasion of any law prohibiting the export from the United States of goods, technology, or sensitive information;
“(iii) seeks to enter the United States to engage solely, principally, or incidentally in any other unlawful activity;
“(iv) seeks to enter the United States to engage solely, principally, or incidentally in any activity a purpose of which is the opposition to, or the control or overthrow of, the Government of the United States by force, violence, or other unlawful means; or
“(v) is the spouse or child of an alien who is inadmissible under this subparagraph, if the activity causing the alien to be found inadmissible occurred within the last 5 years.”.
(b) Waiver Authority.—Section 212(d)(3)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(3)(A)) is amended by striking “(other than paragraphs (3)(A)(i)(I), (3)(A)(ii), (3)(A)(iii), (3)(C), and clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (3)(E) of such subsection)” each place such phrase appears and inserting “(other than subparagraphs
(A)(i)(I), (A)(ii), (A)(iii), (A)(iv), (C), (E)(i), and (E)(ii) of paragraph (3) of such subsection)”. <all>
Comments