Sen. Cruz, Colleagues, Introduce Bill to Defend US National Security Against Espionage

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with cosponsors Sens. Cramer (R-ND), Rubio (R-FL), Schmitt (R-Mo.), Braun (R-Ind.), Blackburn (R-TN) and Tuberville (R-AL)reintroduced the Protecting America from Spies Act, legislation that would make ineligible for visas individuals who have committed acts of espionage or intellectual property theft against the United States, as well as the family members of such individuals, for a period of five years. In 2020, President Trump's administration closed China's Houston consulate, which the Chinese Communist Party was using to spy in Houston and throughout the Southwest. Sen. Cruz previously introduced a version of this legislation in 2020 and2021.

Upon reintroduction, Sen. Cruz said:

"The Chinese Communist Party takes a whole-of-state approach to espionage and intellectual property theft. The CCP relentlessly seeks to infiltrate and steal from America and our institutions. This is persistent and acute. It has directly affected Texas, as when the Chinese government used the Chinese consulate in Houston in its espionage efforts. Countering such espionage requires identifying and excluding those who conduct it."

Read the full text of the Protecting America from Spies Act here.

BACKGROUND:

Under current law, the Chinese Communist Party's spies expelled from the U.S. have the ability to immediately reapply for visas. The Protecting America from Spies Act would update the Immigration and Naturalization Act to ensure past, present, and future espionage and tech-transfer activity is considered inadmissible for entry into the United States. It also:

• Makes spouses and children of aliens engaged in espionage or tech-transfer inadmissible if the activity making them inadmissible occurred within the past five years.
• Allows the State Department to waive these restrictions if necessary, such as to fulfill U.S. obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement.

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