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HR 1071119th CongressIntroduced
No Censors on our Shores Act
Introduced: Feb 6, 2025
Standard Summary
Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs
No Censors on our Shores Act would add new grounds to the immigration laws to punish foreign government officials who censor American speech. Specifically, it creates two new provisions: (1) an inadmissibility ground (for those seeking to enter the U.S.) and (2) a deportability ground (for those already in the U.S.) for foreign officials who, while serving in their government role, carried out actions against U.S. citizens in the United States that would violate the First Amendment if done by a U.S. government official in the United States. In short, it targets censorship activities by foreign officials related to American speech, using a standard anchored to U.S. constitutional limits on government speech restrictions.
Key Points
- 1Creates a new inadmissibility ground (INA 212(a)(2)(J)) for foreign government officials who censor American speech against U.S. citizens located in the U.S. in a way that would violate the First Amendment if done by a U.S. official.
- 2Creates a new deportability ground (INA 237(a)(2)(G)) with the same censorship standard, making such officials deportable if present in the United States.
- 3The standard hinges on actions that, if performed by a U.S. government official in the United States, would violate the First Amendment.
- 4The bill applies to foreign government officials “while serving as a foreign government official,” and to acts against U.S. citizens located in the United States, regardless of where the censorship acts occurred.
- 5Status and sponsors: Introduced in the 119th Congress (Feb 6, 2025) by Rep. Issa and colleagues (Salazar, Gill of Texas, Baumgartner); referred to the Judiciary Committee.
Impact Areas
Primary: Foreign government officials who censor American speech; U.S. immigration authorities (who would apply inadmissibility and deportation determinations); U.S. citizens whose speech is targeted.Secondary: U.S. government interests in protecting free expression rights and immigration law enforcement; foreign governments and diplomatic relations.Additional impacts: Potential chilling effect on foreign officials’ engagement with U.S. individuals; legal and enforcement questions about extraterritorial reach and how “censorship” is proven; possible implications for international diplomacy and speech-related disputes involving foreign officials.
Generated by gpt-5-nano on Nov 18, 2025