| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 2643 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require the Secretary of State to submit an annual report to Congress |
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| 6 | 6 | | regarding the ties between criminal gangs and political and economic |
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| 7 | 7 | | elites in Haiti and impose sanctions on political and economic elites |
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| 8 | 8 | | involved in such criminal activities. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | APRIL3, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. M |
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| 12 | 12 | | EEKS(for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, and Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK) in- |
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| 13 | 13 | | troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on For- |
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| 14 | 14 | | eign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a |
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| 15 | 15 | | period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for |
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| 16 | 16 | | consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- |
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| 17 | 17 | | mittee concerned |
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| 18 | 18 | | A BILL |
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| 19 | 19 | | To require the Secretary of State to submit an annual report |
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| 20 | 20 | | to Congress regarding the ties between criminal gangs |
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| 21 | 21 | | and political and economic elites in Haiti and impose |
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| 22 | 22 | | sanctions on political and economic elites involved in |
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| 23 | 23 | | such criminal activities. |
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| 24 | 24 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 25 | 25 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 27 | 27 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haiti Criminal Collu-4 |
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| 28 | 28 | | sion Transparency Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 31 | 31 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 32 | 32 | | SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (a) I |
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| 34 | 34 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 2 |
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| 35 | 35 | | date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 3 |
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| 36 | 36 | | for the following 5 years, the Secretary of State, in coordi-4 |
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| 37 | 37 | | nation with other Federal agencies as appropriate, shall 5 |
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| 38 | 38 | | submit a report to the appropriate congressional commit-6 |
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| 39 | 39 | | tees regarding the ties between criminal gangs and polit-7 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ical and economic elites in Haiti. The report shall— 8 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (1) identify and list prominent criminal gangs 9 |
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| 42 | 42 | | in Haiti as well as the leaders thereof, and describe 10 |
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| 43 | 43 | | their criminal activities including coercive recruit-11 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ment, and identify their primary geographic areas of 12 |
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| 45 | 45 | | operations; 13 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (2) list Haitian political and economic elites 14 |
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| 47 | 47 | | who have direct links to criminal gangs and any or-15 |
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| 48 | 48 | | ganizations or entities controlled by these elites; 16 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (3) describe in detail the relationship between 17 |
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| 50 | 50 | | the individuals listed pursuant to paragraph (2) and 18 |
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| 51 | 51 | | the criminal gangs identified pursuant to paragraph 19 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (1); 20 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (4) describe in detail how Haitian political and 21 |
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| 54 | 54 | | economic elites use their relationships with criminal 22 |
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| 55 | 55 | | gangs to advance their political and economic inter-23 |
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| 56 | 56 | | ests and agenda; 24 |
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| 59 | 59 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 60 | 60 | | (5) include a list of each criminal organization 1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | assessed to be trafficking Haitians and other indi-2 |
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| 62 | 62 | | viduals to the United States border; 3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (6) include an assessment of ties between polit-4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ical and economic elites, criminal gangs in Haiti, 5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | and transnational criminal organizations; 6 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (7) include an assessment of how the nature 7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | and extent of collusion between political and eco-8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | nomic elites and criminal gangs threatens the Hai-9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | tian people and United States national interests and 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | activities in the country; and 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (8) include an assessment of potential actions 12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | that the Government of the United States could take 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | to address the findings made pursuant to paragraph 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (6). 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | (b) F |
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| 76 | 76 | | ORM OFREPORT.—The report required under 16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 17 |
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| 78 | 78 | | may include a classified annex. 18 |
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| 79 | 79 | | SEC. 3. SANCTIONS. 19 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (a) I |
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| 81 | 81 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | submission of the report to the appropriate committees, 21 |
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| 83 | 83 | | the President shall impose the sanctions described in sub-22 |
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| 84 | 84 | | section (b) with respect to each foreign person identified 23 |
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| 85 | 85 | | pursuant to sections 2(a)(1) and 2(a)(2). 24 |
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| 88 | 88 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 89 | 89 | | (b) SANCTIONSDESCRIBED.—The sanctions de-1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | scribed in this subsection are the following: 2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | (1) P |
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| 92 | 92 | | ROPERTY BLOCKING .—Notwithstanding 3 |
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| 93 | 93 | | the requirements of section 202 of the International 4 |
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| 94 | 94 | | Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701), 5 |
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| 95 | 95 | | the President may exercise of all powers granted to 6 |
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| 96 | 96 | | the President by that Act to the extent necessary to 7 |
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| 97 | 97 | | block and prohibit all transactions in all property 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | and interests in property of the foreign person if 9 |
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| 99 | 99 | | such property and interests in property are in the 10 |
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| 100 | 100 | | United States, come within the United States, or are 11 |
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| 101 | 101 | | or come within the possession or control of a United 12 |
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| 102 | 102 | | States person. 13 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (2) V |
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| 104 | 104 | | ISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.— 14 |
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| 105 | 105 | | (A) I |
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| 106 | 106 | | N GENERAL.—An alien who the Sec-15 |
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| 107 | 107 | | retary of State or the Secretary of Homeland 16 |
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| 108 | 108 | | Security (or a designee of one of such Secre-17 |
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| 109 | 109 | | taries) knows, or has reason to believe, is de-18 |
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| 110 | 110 | | scribed in subsection (a) is— 19 |
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| 111 | 111 | | (i) inadmissible to the United States; 20 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (ii) ineligible for a visa or other docu-21 |
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| 113 | 113 | | mentation to enter the United States; and 22 |
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| 114 | 114 | | (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 23 |
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| 115 | 115 | | or paroled into the United States or to re-24 |
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| 116 | 116 | | ceive any other benefit under the Immigra-25 |
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| 119 | 119 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 120 | 120 | | tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 1 |
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| 121 | 121 | | seq.). 2 |
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| 122 | 122 | | (B) C |
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| 123 | 123 | | URRENT VISAS REVOKED .— 3 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (i) I |
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| 125 | 125 | | N GENERAL.—The issuing con-4 |
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| 126 | 126 | | sular officer, the Secretary of State, or the 5 |
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| 127 | 127 | | Secretary of Homeland Security (or a des-6 |
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| 128 | 128 | | ignee of one of such Secretaries) shall, in 7 |
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| 129 | 129 | | accordance with section 221(i) of the Im-8 |
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| 130 | 130 | | migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 9 |
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| 131 | 131 | | 1201(i)), revoke any visa or other entry 10 |
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| 132 | 132 | | documentation issued to an alien described 11 |
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| 133 | 133 | | in subsection (a) regardless of when the 12 |
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| 134 | 134 | | visa or other entry documentation is 13 |
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| 135 | 135 | | issued. 14 |
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| 136 | 136 | | (ii) E |
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| 137 | 137 | | FFECT OF REVOCATION .—A rev-15 |
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| 138 | 138 | | ocation under clause (i) shall take effect 16 |
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| 139 | 139 | | immediately and shall automatically cancel 17 |
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| 140 | 140 | | any other valid visa or entry documenta-18 |
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| 141 | 141 | | tion that is in the alien’s possession. 19 |
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| 142 | 142 | | (c) E |
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| 143 | 143 | | XCEPTIONS.— 20 |
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| 144 | 144 | | (1) E |
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| 145 | 145 | | XCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER -21 |
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| 146 | 146 | | NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS .—Sanctions under this sec-22 |
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| 147 | 147 | | tion shall not apply with respect to the admission of 23 |
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| 148 | 148 | | an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the 24 |
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| 149 | 149 | | United States is necessary to permit the United 25 |
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| 152 | 152 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 153 | 153 | | States to comply with the Agreement regarding the 1 |
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| 154 | 154 | | Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake 2 |
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| 155 | 155 | | Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force No-3 |
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| 156 | 156 | | vember 21, 1947, between the United Nations and 4 |
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| 157 | 157 | | the United States, or other applicable international 5 |
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| 158 | 158 | | obligations. 6 |
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| 159 | 159 | | (2) E |
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| 160 | 160 | | XCEPTION RELATING TO THE PROVISION 7 |
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| 161 | 161 | | OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE .—Sanctions under 8 |
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| 162 | 162 | | this section may not be imposed with respect to 9 |
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| 163 | 163 | | transactions or the facilitation of transactions for— 10 |
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| 164 | 164 | | (A) the sale of agricultural commodities, 11 |
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| 165 | 165 | | food, medicine, or medical devices to Haiti; 12 |
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| 166 | 166 | | (B) the provision of humanitarian assist-13 |
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| 167 | 167 | | ance to the people of Haiti; 14 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (C) financial transactions relating to hu-15 |
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| 169 | 169 | | manitarian assistance or for humanitarian pur-16 |
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| 170 | 170 | | poses in Haiti; or 17 |
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| 171 | 171 | | (D) transporting goods or services that are 18 |
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| 172 | 172 | | necessary to carry out operations relating to 19 |
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| 173 | 173 | | humanitarian assistance or humanitarian pur-20 |
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| 174 | 174 | | poses in Haiti. 21 |
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| 175 | 175 | | (d) I |
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| 176 | 176 | | MPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 22 |
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| 177 | 177 | | (1) I |
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| 178 | 178 | | MPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex-23 |
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| 179 | 179 | | ercise all authorities provided to the President under 24 |
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| 180 | 180 | | sections 203 and 205 of the International Emer-25 |
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| 183 | 183 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 184 | 184 | | gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1 |
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| 185 | 185 | | 1704) to carry out this subtitle. 2 |
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| 186 | 186 | | (2) P |
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| 187 | 187 | | ENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 3 |
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| 188 | 188 | | of section 206(b) and (c) of the International Emer-4 |
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| 189 | 189 | | gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall 5 |
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| 190 | 190 | | apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, 6 |
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| 191 | 191 | | conspires to violate, or causes a violation of regula-7 |
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| 192 | 192 | | tions promulgated to carry out this section to the 8 |
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| 193 | 193 | | same extent that such penalties apply to a person 9 |
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| 194 | 194 | | that commits an unlawful act described in section 10 |
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| 195 | 195 | | 206(a) of that Act. 11 |
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| 196 | 196 | | (e) W |
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| 197 | 197 | | AIVER.—The President may waive the applica-12 |
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| 198 | 198 | | tion of sanctions or restrictions imposed with respect to 13 |
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| 199 | 199 | | a foreign person under this section if the President cer-14 |
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| 200 | 200 | | tifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the 15 |
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| 201 | 201 | | waiver is important to the national interests of the United 16 |
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| 202 | 202 | | States. 17 |
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| 203 | 203 | | SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 18 |
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| 204 | 204 | | In this Act: 19 |
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| 205 | 205 | | (1) A |
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| 206 | 206 | | PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -20 |
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| 207 | 207 | | TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-21 |
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| 208 | 208 | | mittees’’ means— 22 |
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| 209 | 209 | | (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 23 |
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| 210 | 210 | | the House of Representatives; 24 |
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| 213 | 213 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 214 | 214 | | (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 1 |
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| 215 | 215 | | the Senate; 2 |
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| 216 | 216 | | (C) the Committee on Financial Services of 3 |
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| 217 | 217 | | the House of Representatives; 4 |
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| 218 | 218 | | (D) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 5 |
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| 219 | 219 | | and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 6 |
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| 220 | 220 | | (E) the House Permanent Select Com-7 |
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| 221 | 221 | | mittee on Intelligence; 8 |
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| 222 | 222 | | (F) the Senate Select Committee on Intel-9 |
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| 223 | 223 | | ligence; 10 |
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| 224 | 224 | | (G) the Committee on Appropriations of 11 |
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| 225 | 225 | | the House of Representatives; and 12 |
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| 226 | 226 | | (H) the Committee on Appropriations of 13 |
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| 227 | 227 | | the Senate. 14 |
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| 228 | 228 | | (1) F |
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| 229 | 229 | | OREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-15 |
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| 230 | 230 | | son’’ means an individual or entity that is not a 16 |
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| 231 | 231 | | United States person. 17 |
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| 232 | 232 | | (2) U |
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| 233 | 233 | | NITED STATES PERSON .—The term 18 |
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| 234 | 234 | | ‘‘United States person’’ means— 19 |
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| 235 | 235 | | (A) a United States citizen; 20 |
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| 236 | 236 | | (B) a permanent resident alien of the 21 |
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| 237 | 237 | | United States; or 22 |
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| 238 | 238 | | (C) an entity organized under the laws of 23 |
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| 239 | 239 | | the United States or of any jurisdiction within 24 |
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| 242 | 242 | | •HR 2643 IH |
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| 243 | 243 | | the United States, including a foreign branch of 1 |
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| 244 | 244 | | such an entity. 2 |
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| 245 | 245 | | (3) E |
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| 246 | 246 | | CONOMIC ELITES.—The term ‘‘economic 3 |
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| 247 | 247 | | elites’’ means board members, officers, and execu-4 |
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| 248 | 248 | | tives of groups, committees, corporations, or other 5 |
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| 249 | 249 | | entities that exert substantial influence or control 6 |
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| 250 | 250 | | over Haiti’s economy, infrastructure, or particular 7 |
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| 251 | 251 | | industries. 8 |
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| 252 | 252 | | (4) P |
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| 253 | 253 | | OLITICAL ELITES.—The term ‘‘political 9 |
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| 254 | 254 | | elites’’ means current and former government offi-10 |
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| 255 | 255 | | cials and their high-level staff, political party lead-11 |
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| 256 | 256 | | ers, and political committee leaders. 12 |
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| 257 | 257 | | SEC. 5. SUNSET. 13 |
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| 258 | 258 | | The authorities provided by this Act shall cease to 14 |
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| 259 | 259 | | have effect on the date that is 5 years after the date of 15 |
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| 260 | 260 | | the enactment of this Act. 16 |
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| 261 | 261 | | Æ |
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