House Bill Could Lead to Sanctions for Wrongfully Detaining Americans

A bipartisan group of five House members, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., reintroduced a bill June 26 to create a State Sponsor of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention (SSWD) designation, which would allow the State Department to impose sanctions, arms export restrictions and other penalties on countries that wrongfully detain Americans.

The Countering Wrongful Detention Act also would direct the State Department to brief Congress on whether China, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela and Belarus should receive an SSWD designation. The bill, which previously was introduced in the last Congress (see 2411250043), was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees.