Senator Rick Scott bill targets foreign nationals aiding enemy intel
Florida senator introduces immigration ban on those bound by hostile intelligence laws
Chinese law obligates its citizens to 'provide necessary support' for its 'intelligence efforts.'
Sen. Rick Scott introduced the Preventing Intelligence Gathering from Foreign Adversaries Act on July 16. The bill seeks to amend immigration law to bar or deport foreign nationals legally required to assist hostile governments’ intelligence agencies.
A press release states the legislation adds new grounds of inadmissibility under Immigration and National Security Act sections 212 and 237, prohibiting “any alien … subject to a law … that requires such alien to provide access to, cooperation with, or support for the intelligence-gathering activities of their country.”
“Communist China is not just our competitor, they are our enemy. . . . If you’re legally bound to serve a hostile adversarial regime that requires its citizens to spy on America, you will never be setting foot on American soil,” Scott said.
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The bill aims to address regimes with laws compelling citizens to support foreign espionage, such as China’s National Intelligence Law, which enables the state to call on its citizens to “provide necessary support, assistance, and cooperation” in “carrying out intelligence efforts.”
Scott’s legislation builds on his prior efforts to confront national security threats, including the No Adversarial AI Act (2023), Countering CCP Influence Act (2023), and Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act (2024).
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Concerns about foreign espionage through legal immigration have grown in recent years. A federal jury convicted Harvard professor Charles Lieber in 2021 for concealing ties to China’s Thousand Talents Program, which the U.S. government describes as a covert recruitment tool targeting American researchers. In recent months, several Chinese researchers have been caught smuggling high-risk biological material into the United States.
Campus Reform reached out to Senator Scott’s office for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
