S842-119

What This Bill Does

The No Hezbollah In Our Hemisphere Act responds to Hezbollah and Iranian proxy activity in Latin America. It urges the State Department to press governments to designate Hezbollah, investigate terrorist financing, and work through forums such as the Financial Action Task Force. It then requires the Secretary of State, with DNI, Treasury, DHS, DOJ, and other agencies, to assess within 180 days whether any country, region, or jurisdiction in Latin America is a terrorist sanctuary, considering Hezbollah operations, fundraising, recruitment, safe haven, and host-government tolerance. If officials of a designated sanctuary jurisdiction do not take significant verifiable steps to stop the activity, the President may make them inadmissible, revoke visas immediately, and cancel other entry documents, subject to law-enforcement, UN-headquarters, national-security, and national-interest waivers and a five-year sanctions sunset.

Who Benefits and How

U.S. counterterrorism agencies benefit from a statutory process for identifying Hezbollah-linked terrorist sanctuaries in Latin America. Congressional judiciary, banking, and foreign affairs committees benefit from assessment results and waiver reports. Latin American governments confronting Hezbollah benefit from U.S. diplomatic pressure and a model for terrorist-organization designation. U.S. financial crime investigators benefit if State Department diplomacy and FATF pressure improve scrutiny of Hezbollah money laundering and smuggling. Communities vulnerable to Hezbollah or Iranian proxy networks benefit if governments face consequences for tolerating fundraising, recruitment, or safe haven.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of State must coordinate the terrorist-sanctuary assessment, prescribe visa-sanctions regulations, and report on waivers. DNI, Treasury, DHS, DOJ, and other federal agencies must contribute intelligence, finance, immigration, and law-enforcement analysis. Foreign officials in designated terrorist sanctuaries face inadmissibility, visa revocation, and loss of immigration benefits. Governments that tolerate Hezbollah activity face diplomatic and reputational pressure and potential consequences for officials. The President must manage case-by-case individual waivers, jurisdiction waivers, termination decisions, and reports to Congress.

Key Provisions

• Requires a 180-day State Department-led assessment of Latin American countries, regions, or jurisdictions that may qualify as terrorist sanctuaries.
• Directs the assessment to consider Hezbollah operations, fundraising, recruitment, safe haven, host-government tolerance, and foreign terrorist organization activity.
• Authorizes visa ineligibility, inadmissibility, and immediate visa revocation for officials of designated sanctuary jurisdictions.
• Provides law-enforcement, UN-headquarters, national-security, and national-interest exceptions and waiver reporting.
• Establishes a five-year sunset for sanctions imposed under the Act.