Foreign government officials who censor Americans would be both inadmissible to the United States and deportable, under legislation Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) is introducing. “Deny our citizens their First Amendment rights, and this country will deny you entry to America or show you the door,” Issa warned.
The No Censors on our Shores Act, obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter, amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to read that “any alien who, while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, any act against a United States citizen located in the United States that, if committed by a United States government official in the United States, would violate the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, is inadmissible [and deportable].”
“Wherever the free speech rights of Americans are under attack around the world, we won’t just see it, we’ll stop it,” Issa, who sits on both the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees, said. Joining Issa in sponsoring the bill are Reps. Maria Salazar (R., Fla.), Michael Baumgartner (R., Wash.) and Brandon Gill (R., Texas).
