John Cornyn
Senator for Texas · Republican · United States
“Mr. President, I just wanted to say there is one thing that Senator Tillis said that I disagree with, and that is that he said he is not a statesman. He is.”
“Only 4 percent of the total money appropriated was obligated to red flag-related activities--4 percent--in States with existing red flag laws, and those States now had to comply with the law so a stricter due process standard applied.”
“Texas, like all the States, has received significant amounts of money; in the case of Texas, hundreds of millions of dollars from this law--more than $312 million, to date, to strengthen our mental health care and school hardening--to make it more difficult for violent individuals to attack soft targets like schools typically have been bu…”
“One of the things I heard most in the recent campaign I ran in was that we had passed a red flag law which would make it possible for an aggrieved partner or spouse or family member or maybe even a neighbor to basically turn in somebody and have their firearms confiscated without due process of law.”
“Our legislation created this due process framework that I know you will hear more about from Senator Tillis, but I knew that my State, Texas, would never pass a State red flag law, and the last thing I was going to do was to support or embrace a red flag law, national law, that would preempt Texas law.”
“Mr. President, 4 years ago, Congress passed our legislative response to one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. It happened in Uvalde, TX, at Robb Elementary School. Nineteen innocent children and two adults--teachers--lost their lives that day. It was a devastating--a devastating--occurrence.”
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“Are you aware, has anybody contacted your office, or have you read anything in the press or seen anything on broadcast media that would indicate that a single law- abiding American has been denied access to their Second Amendment rights because of this law?”
“And one of the things that I learned back, years ago, when I had a protective detail and I was the whip, is my Capital Police officer said there is this phenomenon, which I never fully appreciated before. If you think about it, some of these mass shootings are actually an act of suicide themselves because these shooters go into these situations, knowing--or likely knowing--that they will never make their way out of it. But they don't have the courage to take their own life. They need to take other people down with them, and there is a phenomenon called death by cop, where they know that by engaging a law enforcement officer, that they ultimately will be killed of necessity by the law enforcement officer to prevent causing more harm. But I want to ask just one last question.”
“Mr. President, I just wanted to say there is one thing that Senator Tillis said that I disagree with, and that is that he said he is not a statesman. He is. And it took a lot of [[Page S3923]] political courage to do something that we knew we were buying trouble because we knew that this can be such an emotional issue and so easy to mislead people about what the facts are, that we knew that there would be a political price to be paid in order to take on this challenge. But one of the things that I think, as we are talking about the harm of a young person who is suffering from mental illness or with a criminal record, a juvenile record of that--I am sure you are aware of this, but I just happened to double-check. The Pew Poll says that 62 percent of the gun deaths in America are suicide. These are people--perhaps a disturbed young person--”
“But the one reason we are here in the Senate, the one reason I am proud to be here is because we are willing to take on some of these hard, complex issues on occasion and to try to come up with tangible results that benefit our constituents and all the American people. So I yield to Senator Tillis.”
“Parents may not know when they interact with security systems at the entrance of their child's preschool that they are actually benefitting from this law, but the BSCA has made a difference, and it will continue to do so. So I am proud, working together with Senator Tillis and Senator Sinema and Senator Murphy, that we were able to accomplish this even in the face of organized opposition. What I did learn--and maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise to me-- is that there are cottage industries in Washington, DC, that spread misinformation about legislation that is actually challenging to pass because it does involve something like a constitutional right--the Second Amendment--but strictly they do it for the purposes of raising money from their membership for using in political campaigns.”
“We literally made the single largest investment when we passed this law 4 years ago of community-based mental healthcare and made our schools safer for all of our children so they can focus on why they are in school in the first place: to learn. And parents don't have to worry at home about is my son or my daughter going to be safe, all the while protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. So as I reflect back on my time here in the U.S. Senate, there are a few legislative accomplishments I have made that have helped the people of Texas and our country at large--at least I hope that is the case-- but out of all of these, the BSCA was one of the most critical in tangibly making the country safer for families and children.”
“But this is one of the reasons why I was a vocal critic of President Biden's open border policies which allowed millions of people to come into the country, including some criminals and cartel members. It is the reason why I opposed the ``defund the police'' movement that left a wave of unchecked violence and crime in America's blue cities. And that is why working together with Senator Tillis, Senator Sinema, and Senator Murphy, we made sure we passed a law which actually would invest in mental health resources to identify individuals who were suffering before they became a danger to themselves or others.”
“Now because of this law, the Department of Justice has a tool to combat cartel violence and prosecute individuals who engage in firearms trafficking. Indeed, the Department of Justice has convicted 459 criminals under the straw purchasing and firearms trafficking laws-- 459--while another 716 violent criminals are currently facing charges under this law. So we all want our communities to be safe, but we also want to make sure that we respect the rights of law-abiding citizens; and no law we would pass restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens, were we to do so, would make a difference. No law-abiding citizen is a threat to their community.”
“Straw purchases are the primary way that criminals and illegal aliens arm themselves, and the Trump administration has used these new criminal provisions enacted in the BSCA to target cartel members. Ryan Routh, who made an attempt against President Trump's life at Trump International golf course in September of 2024 acquired the gun via a straw purchase because his prior criminal record would have prevented him from buying it legally. Before BSCA, the only penalty a criminal faced for a straw purchase was lying on their firearms transaction, a minor offense which many prosecutors would not bother to pursue. The BSCA also created a new firearms trafficking law. Since drug cartel members can't legally purchase firearms, they rely on firearms traffickers to arm them and carry out their violence.”
“These individuals would have never been discovered before the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. States agree with its efficacy, including Texas, which passed the law soon after the BSCA passed to ensure that juvenile mental health records would be available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This leads me to another important provision in the BSCA, which gives the Department of Justice tools to prosecute individuals for straw purchases. So, for example, if a drug dealer knows that his or her criminal conviction would disqualify them from purchasing a firearm legally, they can't get their boyfriend or girlfriend to buy it for them without violating the law.”
“That information must now be available on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The BSCA incentivizes States to upload these juvenile records, but it places a strict time limit on how long the review process can take place. If a determination is not made in that window, the purchase proceeds. Interestingly, far less than 1 percent of firearms background checks are affected by the checks for under 21-year-old buyers that this bill deals with, but yet we know that it has made a real difference. There was the 18-year-old attempting to purchase a long gun in Nebraska who as a minor made terroristic threats and was placed in a mental institution, or the 20-year-old drug dealer with a juvenile felony adjudication who attempted to purchase a long gun in Arizona.”
“He had a history of fighting, threatening fellow students, and abusing animals. He bought weapons and ammunition within days of turning 18 because the juvenile records in Texas were not uploaded into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System like they are for adults. So there was virtually no possibility of any record of this potentially derogatory or disqualifying information that would have been available at the time of his purchase. If a person's record includes disqualifying criminal convictions or mental health adjudication, it shouldn't matter whether it occurred a day before their 18th birthday. And what the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act allowed law enforcement officials to do was go back and look at those juvenile records.”
“[[Page S3921]] Another misconception I heard on the campaign trail or saw on social media was that we somehow created a mandatory waiting period before somebody could access a firearm if they were going into a store to purchase it for those under 21. Once again, this is false. Many individuals who create acts of violence like school shootings have a history of violence, are known to local law enforcement, and are essentially ticking timebombs. That is what happened in Uvalde, TX, 4 years ago. The Uvalde shooter was a deeply troubled young man known by everybody in the neighborhood to be trouble, and there were warning signs that, I think, demonstrated the fact that he was not only a potential danger to himself but also others. He was isolated, a bully. He self-harmed.”
“Only 4 percent of the total money appropriated was obligated to red flag-related activities--4 percent--in States with existing red flag laws, and those States now had to comply with the law so a stricter due process standard applied. The vast majority of BSCA funds have gone, instead, to State mental health programs, veterans courts, as I mentioned, crisis intervention, school safety measures. The only States to implement a new red flag law were two States that already had begun the process to pass one before the BSCA passed. So the BSCA--Bipartisan Safer Communities Act--did not cause or leave any State to pass new red flag laws. What we did is made it harder for those laws to be abused in those States that had them by providing for this enhanced level of due process protection of this Second Amendment constitutional right.”
“Our legislation created this due process framework that I know you will hear more about from Senator Tillis, but I knew that my State, Texas, would never pass a State red flag law, and the last thing I was going to do was to support or embrace a red flag law, national law, that would preempt Texas law. So we wanted to make sure that the funding that was available was available for crisis intervention programs, veterans courts, mental health courts--just to use a couple of examples--that did not have those red flag laws while making sure those States that did could not gain access to this money unless they provided an enhanced due process procedure. So it is false to argue that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act created an incentive for more States to pass new red flag laws, and the statistics bear it out.”
“One of the things I heard most in the recent campaign I ran in was that we had passed a red flag law which would make it possible for an aggrieved partner or spouse or family member or maybe even a neighbor to basically turn in somebody and have their firearms confiscated without due process of law. We decided upfront that although some States did have red flag laws, that No. 1, it was important that there be appropriate due process requirements before they can access any of the resources in this law and, secondly, that there not be a national red flag law--leave this up to the States. The truth is, the BSCA actually makes it harder to implement red flag laws because you can't do so and access this money unless you enhance the due process protections that are necessary to protect what is a constitutional right.”
“Now, of course, there has been a lot of misunderstanding living in the world we live in with social media and officeholders and would-be officeholders running in political campaigns. There is a lot of misunderstanding about what this law did and what it did not do. For example, some have described this bill as a gun control law, which it is not. So, today, together with my colleague--our colleague-- Senator Tillis of North Carolina, who is a great partner in this legislation, we want to address some of the widespread misconceptions about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and just set the record straight.”
“The BSCA, as it is called, also expanded certified community behavioral health clinics around the country, which has allowed mental health clinics to expand their coverage to include not only mental health but substance abuse disorders. We have all come to be aware of the fact that we simply have not treated or provided the resources for people suffering from mental health challenges that are necessary to help them not only get better but prevent them from descending into self-harm or harm to others. There are now more than 500 community-based mental health centers operating in 46 States, and additional States have added to the CCBHC Demonstration Program recently announced by the Health and Human Services Secretary, Secretary Kennedy, that was directly linked to this law that we passed 4 years ago.”
“Texas, like all the States, has received significant amounts of money; in the case of Texas, hundreds of millions of dollars from this law--more than $312 million, to date, to strengthen our mental health care and school hardening--to make it more difficult for violent individuals to attack soft targets like schools typically have been but no more. Universities use these resources to partner with local school districts to provide training for mental health professionals to support students, and school districts have used these resources to upgrade their security systems, to implement threat alert systems, and improve emergency response plans. I saw some of these firsthand when I visited R.L. Paschal High School in Fort Worth, which received more than $350,000 for specialized emergency radios and safety upgrades.”
“Now, the Senate does not ordinarily operate at that sort of speed, I can assure you, as we all know, but we wrote this law carefully and deliberately to ensure no law-abiding citizen's Second Amendment rights would be impaired. To be plain, if you didn't suffer from a mental illness or you weren't a criminal, you would not be affected by this law. That was true then, and it is true today. What this bill did do is made a historic investment in mental health and school safety and commonsense measures to prevent dangerous individuals from being a harm to themselves and others.”
“But some of these proposals, obviously, were unacceptable to me, personally, but they, as I said, failed to address the problems that we have seen in these school shootings in a way that would be meaningful. The best solution, in my view, was that we needed to find some way to come to grips with the mental health crisis in our country and particularly that affecting young people and, in this case, in the wake of COVID and the isolation many of these young people had. But we also knew that we needed to be narrow and specifically tailor policy changes that would save those lives. So we worked together and passed a bill called the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which passed the Senate on June 23 and was signed into law June 25 of 2022, 32 days after the shooting.”
“As negotiations continued, there was pressure mounting from some corners of this Chamber to do things that maybe sounded pretty good, but they wouldn't actually change the results or maybe they would be unconstitutional in depriving law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights. During the meetings that we had together, I think we concluded that if we actually wanted to be successful in doing something that would make a difference and save lives, that we couldn't just try to do something that perhaps was a good press release or might make the evening news; we actually had to do something that would be meaningful and that would result in saving lives. I have long been a champion of Second Amendment rights. That is probably no surprise. Texans believe in the Second Amendment.”
“In the days that followed, we heard from many Americans--Texans, North Carolinians, and folks all around the country--saying that no parent should ever have to send their child to school wondering will that child be safe, and no child should have to go to school wondering if they were going to be a victim of a mass shooting. We knew that whatever we did, it would not bring back those teachers and innocent children from the act of pure evil that unfolded on May 24, 2022. But we knew that--Senator Tillis, Senator Sinema, Senator Murphy, and I took on the task of trying to come up with a bill that would actually make a difference, that would save lives. But we knew we had to do it consistent with the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we felt like we could make some progress and save lives.”
“Mr. President, 4 years ago, Congress passed our legislative response to one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. It happened in Uvalde, TX, at Robb Elementary School. Nineteen innocent children and two adults--teachers--lost their lives that day. It was a devastating--a devastating--occurrence. Unfortunately, it was not [[Page S3920]] an isolated event. Americans around the country, though, joined in the suffering of these families' experience as they mourned the loss of their loved ones. Flags at Federal buildings and military installations were lowered to halfstaff. We all knew we wanted to do whatever we could do to prevent something like this from happening again if there was anything that we could actually do legislatively. The much harder question was, What would that look like?”
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to enter into a colloquy with the Senator from North Carolina Senator Tillis. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Bipartisan Safer Communities Act”
“(b) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that includes-- [[Page S3831]] (1) any terms and conditions applicable with respect to the access authorized under subsection (a); and (2) a list of each organization or entity that has been provided access pursuant to subsection (a). (c) Form.--The report required under subsection (b) shall be submitted in an unclassified form, but may include a classified annex. SEC. 1280A. SUNSET. This subtitle shall cease to be effective beginning on the date that is 7 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. ______”
“(a) Access to Satellite Imagery.--The Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in coordination with, or at the request of, the Secretary of State, may provide nongovernmental organizations, nonprofit organizations, and intergovernmental entities access to current and archival high-resolution satellite imagery, subject to appropriate classification and information security requirements, to help advance efforts to combat scam compounds, forced criminality, and human trafficking, including monitoring and documenting observable activities at scam compounds in Southeast Asia, which may be associated with human trafficking, including forced labor or forced criminality.”
“(b) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in an unclassified form. SEC. 1280. SATELLITE IMAGERY ACCESS TO MONITOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES RELATED TO SCAM COMPOUNDS TO DISCOVER THE PRESENCE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING.”
“REDRESS TO VICTIMS OF INTERNATIONAL SCAM COMPOUND OPERATIONS. (a) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report containing an assessment of existing forfeiture law that-- (1) outlines challenges or limitations to providing financial redress to victims of international scam compound operations; and (2) offers recommendations, if any, to amend existing forfeiture law to better enable the Department of Justice to recover assets that may be used to compensate United States victims of scam operations.”
“(h) Waiver.-- (1) In general.--The President may waive the application of sanctions under this section with respect to a foreign person or a foreign financial institution if the President determines that such waiver is in the national interest of the United States. (2) Report.--Not later than 15 days before granting a waiver pursuant to paragraph (1), the President shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that includes-- (A) the name of the individual or institution that is benefitting from such waiver; and (B) if the beneficiary is an individual, a detailed justification explaining how the waiver serves the national security interests of the United States. (3) Form.--The report required under paragraph (2) shall be submitted in an unclassified form, but may include a classified annex . SEC. 1279.”
“(f) Form.--The report required under subsection (e) shall be submitted in an unclassified form, but may include a classified annex. (g) Exception Relating to Importation of Goods.-- (1) In general.--The authorities and requirements to impose sanctions under this section shall not include the authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods. (2) Defined term.--In this subsection, the term ``good'' means any article, natural or manmade substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.”
“1705) shall apply to any person who violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of any prohibition of this section, or an order or regulation prescribed under this section, to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1705(a)). (e) Semiannual Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter for 7 years, the President shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that identifies-- (1) all foreign persons the President has sanctioned pursuant to this section; and (2) the dates on which such sanctions were imposed.”
“(4) Exception for unwitting participation.--Sanctions described in subsection (b) shall not apply with respect to a foreign person if the President determines-- (A) the foreign person's involvement in a scam compound or a scam compound operation was without knowledge of its criminal nature; or (B) the foreign person did not knowingly or willingly participate in, or provide significant support for, such operation. (d) Implementation; Penalties.-- (1) Implementation.--The President may exercise all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this section. (2) Penalties.--The penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C.”
“(2) Exception to comply with intelligence activities.-- Sanctions authorized under this section shall not apply with respect to any activity subject to the reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intelligence activities of the United States. (3) Exception for human trafficking victims.--Sanctions described in subsection (b) shall not apply with respect to a person determined by the President to be a victim of trafficking in persons within a scam compound, consistent with section 102(b)(19) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101(b)(19)).”
“(c) Exceptions.-- (1) Exception to comply with international obligations and law enforcement activities.--Sanctions described in subsection (b)(2) shall not apply with respect to the admission of an alien if admitting or paroling such alien into the United States is necessary-- (A) to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations; or (B) to carry out or assist with authorized law enforcement activities in the United States.”
“(2) Visas, admission, or parole.-- (A) In general.--An alien described in subsection (a) is-- (i) inadmissible to the United States; (ii) ineligible for a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.). (B) Current visas revoked.-- (i) In general.--An alien described in subsection (a) is subject to revocation of any visa or other entry documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry documentation was issued. (ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under clause (i) shall take effect immediately and automatically cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the alien's possession.”
“(b) Sanctions Described.-- (1) Asset blocking.--The President may exercise all powers granted to the President under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property of a foreign person described in subsection (a), including, to the extent appropriate, the vessel of which the person is the beneficial owner, if such property or interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.”
“(a) Imposition of Sanctions With Respect to Actors in Scam Compound Operations.--Beginning on the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President may impose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to any foreign person the President determines-- (1) has knowingly provided significant financial or technological support to, or knowingly provided significant goods or services in support of, the activities of international scam compounds or enabling services, including, but not limited to, fraudulent recruitment, human trafficking (including forced criminality), cyber-enabled fraud, or money-laundering; or (2) owned, controlled, directed, or acted for, or on behalf of, a significant scam compound operation or enabling service, including, but not limited to, fraudulent recruitment, human trafficking (including forced criminality), cyber-enabled fraud, or money-laundering.”
“(f) Task Force Termination.--The Task Force shall terminate on the date that is 6 years after the date on which the Task Force is established. SEC. 1278. STRENGTHENING TOOLS TO DISMANTLE SCAM COMPOUNDS AND HOLD TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS ACCOUNTABLE.”
“(e) Annual Reviews and Reports.--Not later than 1 year after the establishment of the Task Force, and not less frequently than annually thereafter, the Task Force shall-- (1) conduct a status review of the Strategy and the overall state of scam compounds operated by transnational criminal organizations that includes-- (A) a list of enabling countries and impacted countries; (B) an estimate of the amount of proceeds of crimes against United States nationals through scams emanating from scam compounds; (C) an estimate of the amount of proceeds described in subparagraph (B) that was intercepted, seized, or returned as a result of United States Government action; (D) an analysis of the role that human trafficking plays in scam compounds around the world; (E) a list of known scam compounds operating across Southeast Asia; and (F) a description of if, where, and how scam compounds and operations have proliferated outside of Southeast Asia across other regions of the world; and (2) submit the results of such review in a public report to the appropriate congressional committees, which may contain a classified annex.”
“(d) Congressional Consultation.--The Task Force shall consult regularly with the appropriate congressional committees on its [[Page S3830]] efforts to implement the Strategy, including potential updates to the Strategy.”
“(c) Consultation.--The Task Force, or representatives of the Task Force, should-- (1) consult with Tribal, State, territorial, and local law enforcement entities and stakeholder organizations in the United States that have firsthand expertise in reporting and combating cyber-enabled fraud and recovering proceeds of crimes; (2) consult regularly with nongovernmental organizations in the United States with expertise in countering trafficking in persons or anti-corruption, as appropriate; (3) develop partnerships with relevant private sector actors for the purpose of better disrupting the enabling infrastructure of scam compounds, operations, and syndicates; and (4) engage civil society organizations to better understand the complexity of the scam compound problem in each country and the broader economic, political, and governance challenges that are exacerbating the problem.”
“(b) Information Sharing.--To ensure proper coordination and effective interagency action, each Federal department or agency represented on the Task Force shall fully share-- (1) all relevant data with the Task Force, consistent with existing Federal law; and (2) all information regarding the department's or agency's plans, before and after final agency decisions are made, on all matters relating to actions regarding combating scam compounds to the extent that sharing of information does not violate protocols or regulations regarding sharing of law enforcement sensitive or classified information.”
“(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after submitting the Strategy pursuant to section 1276(a), the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the heads of other Federal departments and agencies, shall establish or designate an interagency task force (referred to in this section as the ``Task Force'')-- (1) to coordinate the implementation of the Strategy; (2) to conduct regular monitoring and analysis of scam compound operations internationally; and (3) to track and evaluate progress toward the objectives, activities, and performance indicators of the Strategy.”
“(d) Limitation.--Nothing in the Strategy may-- (1) affect, apply to, or create obligations related to past, present, or future criminal or civil law enforcement or intelligence activities of the United States or the law enforcement activities of any State or subdivision of a State; or (2) change existing authorities related to the sharing of personally identifiable information or the collection or sharing of information about individuals solely for constitutionally protected activities. SEC. 1277. ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO IMPLEMENT THE STRATEGY.”
“(c) Contents.--The Strategy shall-- (1) include a comprehensive problem statement identifying the structural vulnerabilities exploited by transnational criminal organizations operating scam compounds; (2) develop a comprehensive list of enabling countries and impacted countries; (3) identify private sector entities whose commercial services are utilized by transnational criminal organizations operating scam compounds and provide recommendations to address such use; (4) identify all active executive branch relevant foreign assistance programs as well as diplomatic efforts underway to address scam compounds, transnational criminal organizations connected to scam compounds, and related money laundering, and human trafficking, including forced criminality, including efforts with enabling countries and impacted countries; (5) identify resources needed to implement the Strategy and any obstacles to the response of the Federal Government to scam compounds, including coordination with partner governments, to address the human trafficking, including forced criminality, and money laundering that facilitates and sustains scam compound operations; and (6) include indicators that measure the success of the Strategy, including achieving the objectives described in subsection (b), which may include the number of persons sanctioned, the number of arrest warrants or indictments issued, the number of arrests made, the amount of United States losses mitigated, the number of victims of trafficking in persons identified and protected, and the reduction in the number of active scam compounds, in comparison to the previous year.”
“(11) Integrating data collection, analysis, and response mechanisms across Federal, Tribal, territorial, State, and local agencies, including by assessing if any existing relevant Fusion Centers could be leveraged to combat the operations of scam compounds. (12) Convening like-minded foreign allies and partners to combat scam compounds, including by establishing similar task forces or working groups, compiling and sharing data, and collaborating regarding the investigation and prosecution of key actors and enablers.”
“(8) Investigating and highlighting the People's Republic of China's involvement in the origin and perpetuation of scam compounds, including through links between Chinese Communist Party officials and criminal organizations, deepening regional security influence, and selective crackdowns that incentivize the targeting of Americans. (9) Investigating the Burmese military's involvement in allowing, ignoring, and profiting from scam compounds in Burma, and the importance of resolving the instability and violence in Burma to stop the unfettered operation of scam compounds in Burma. (10) Harnessing offensive cyber capabilities to degrade scam compound operations.”
“(5) Advocating for the thorough review of countries implicated in scam compound operations at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) or FATF-style regional bodies. (6) Examining existing authorities and procedures of the United States Government for recovering and returning proceeds of crime to defrauded United States persons. (7) Using sanctions, visa restrictions, and other accountability and behavioral change measures, in coordination with allies and partners to the greatest extent possible, against enabling countries, transnational criminal organizations, human traffickers, and related third-party facilitators of scam compound operations.”
“(4) Preventing fraudulent recruitment and human trafficking in scam compounds, including by-- (A) engaging private sector entities operating internet platforms or other services that could be abused or exploited to perpetrate fraudulent recruitment, human trafficking or cyber-enabled fraud; (B) raising awareness among at-risk populations to identify common fraudulent recruitment strategies and improve due diligence and self-protection measures; (C) urging governments to monitor and enforce laws against fraudulent and unlawful recruitment practices; and (D) sharing information and building capacity among foreign counterparts, including law enforcement, border and port officials, and other anti-trafficking authorities, as well as civil society organizations to identify and protect potential human trafficking victims.”