[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1352 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1352

   To prohibit the return or other transfer of persons by the United 
    States, for the purpose of detention, interrogation, trial, or 
  otherwise, to countries where torture or other inhuman treatment of 
                persons occurs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2007

Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Conyers, Mr. George Miller of 
California, Mr. Capuano, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Allen, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. 
Davis of Illinois, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hinchey, 
Mr. Holt, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mrs. Maloney of 
   New York, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Payne, Mr. 
  Serrano, Mr. Pastor, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Tierney, Ms. Woolsey, Ms. 
 Baldwin, Mrs. Capps, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Farr, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, 
    Ms. Matsui, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Michaud, Mr. Moran of 
   Virginia, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Olver, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. 
   Rothman, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Ms. 
 Watson, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Rush, Mr. Honda, and Mr. Sires) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To prohibit the return or other transfer of persons by the United 
    States, for the purpose of detention, interrogation, trial, or 
  otherwise, to countries where torture or other inhuman treatment of 
                persons occurs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Torture Outsourcing Prevention 
Act''.

SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF PERSONS.

    (a) Reports to Congress.--Beginning 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and every 12 months thereafter, the Secretary of 
State shall complete and submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a list of countries where there are substantial grounds for 
believing that torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment is 
commonly used in the detention or interrogation of individuals. The 
list shall be compiled on the basis of the information contained in the 
most recent annual report of the Secretary of State submitted to the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate under section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)).
    (b) Prohibition on Transferring Persons.--Any person who is 
imprisoned, detained, or held for transfer to another country by, or is 
otherwise in the custody or control of, a department, agency, or 
official of the United States Government, or any contractor of any such 
department or agency, may not, regardless of the nationality or 
location of that person, be rendered, returned, or otherwise 
transferred--
            (1) to a country included on the most recent list submitted 
        under subsection (a), for the purpose of detention, 
        interrogation, trial, or otherwise; or
            (2) to any other country if there are substantial grounds 
        to believe that the person will be transferred to a country 
        included in the most recent list submitted under subsection 
        (a).
    (c) Process.--A person may not, regardless of the nationality or 
location of the person, be rendered, returned, or otherwise transferred 
by a department, agency, or official of the United States Government, 
or any contractor of any such department or agency, to any country not 
otherwise described in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b), unless 
the person has been given an opportunity to challenge the rendering, 
return, or transfer in a court in the United States of competent 
jurisdiction, on the grounds that the person would, upon such 
rendering, return, or transfer, be in danger of being subjected to 
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
    (d) Waivers.--
            (1) Authority.--The Secretary of State may waive the 
        prohibition contained in subsection (b) with respect to the 
        government of a country if the Secretary certifies to the 
        appropriate congressional committees that--
                    (A) that government has ended the acts of torture 
                or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment that were the 
                basis for the inclusion of that country on the list; 
                and
                    (B) there is in place a mechanism that assures the 
                United States in a verifiable manner that a person 
                rendered, returned, or otherwise transferred will not 
                be tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman, or 
                degrading treatment in that country, including, at a 
                minimum, immediate, unfettered, and continuing access, 
                from the point of return, to each such person by an 
                independent humanitarian organization.
            (2) Assurances insufficient.--Written or verbal assurances 
        made to the United States by the government of a country that 
        persons rendered, returned, or otherwise transferred to the 
        country will not be tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman, or 
        degrading treatment, are not sufficient to meet the 
        requirements of paragraph (1)(B).
    (e) Treaty-Based Extradition Exemption.--
            (1) Exemption.--The prohibition contained in subsection (b) 
        shall not be construed to apply to the legal extradition of a 
        person under a bilateral or multilateral extradition treaty if, 
        prior to such extradition, that person has recourse to a court 
        in the United States of competent jurisdiction to challenge the 
        extradition on the basis that there are substantial grounds for 
        believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected 
        to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in the 
        country requesting such extradition.
            (2) Assurances insufficient.--Written or verbal assurances 
        made to the United States by the government of a country that 
        persons rendered, returned, or otherwise transferred to the 
        country will not be tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman, or 
        degrading treatment, are not a sufficient basis for believing 
        that the person would not be in subjected to torture or cruel, 
        inhuman, or degrading treatment in the country requesting such 
        extradition pursuant to paragraph (1).

SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF OBLIGATION NOT TO RETURN TO RISK OF TORTURE.

    (a) In General.--Section 2242 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and 
Restructuring Act of 1998 (8 U.S.C. 1231 note) is amended by striking 
subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Regulations.--
            ``(1) Issuance.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
        the enactment of the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act, the 
        heads of the appropriate Government agencies shall prescribe 
        regulations to implement the obligations of the United States 
        under Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against 
        Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 
        Punishment, subject to any reservations, understandings, 
        declarations and provisos contained in the United States Senate 
        resolution of ratification of the Convention.
            ``(2) Requirements of regulations.--Regulations issued by 
        the head of an agency under paragraph (1) shall set forth--
                    ``(A) the responsibilities of the agency, its 
                employees, and its contractors to comply, both within 
                and outside of the United States, with the obligations 
                of the United States under Article 3 of the Convention 
                Against Torture referred to in paragraph (1); and
                    ``(B) the process by which a person may raise and 
                adjudicate in an independent judicial forum a claim 
                that his or her transfer would be in violation of 
                Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture referred to 
                in paragraph (1), including the process by which the 
                individual being transferred can challenge any 
                diplomatic or other assurances received from the 
                government to which the individual would be returned 
                that the individual will not be subjected to torture or 
                ill treatment.
            ``(3) Definition.--For purposes of this subsection, the 
        term `appropriate Government agencies' means the intelligence 
        community (as defined in section 3(4) of the National Security 
        Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(4))), the Departments of State, 
        Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice, the United States 
        Secret Service, the United States Marshals Service, and any 
        other law enforcement, national security, intelligence, or 
        homeland security agency that imprisons, detains, or transfers 
        prisoners or detainees, or that otherwise takes or assumes 
        custody of persons or transfers persons to another country.''.
    (b) Existing Regulations.--
            (1) In general.--The amendment made by subsection (a) does 
        not nullify any regulations issued by an agency, before the 
        effective date of this Act, under section 2242(b) of the 
        Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998. In such a 
        case, the agency shall amend such regulations to comply with 
        the amendment made by subsection (a) of this section.
            (2) Special rule concerning immigration laws.--
        Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, or any 
        amendment made by this Act, nothing in this Act shall be 
        construed to affect immigration laws (as defined in section 
        101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1101(a)(17))), or regulations issued pursuant to immigration 
        laws, except that the Secretary of Homeland Security, not later 
        than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
        shall revise the regulations issued by the Secretary to 
        implement section 2242 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and 
        Restructuring Act of 1998 (8 U.S.C. 1231 note) so as to ensure 
        that written or verbal assurances made by the government of a 
        country that a person in immigration proceedings in the United 
        States (including asylum proceedings) will not be tortured or 
        subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment if the 
        person is removed by the United States to the country are not, 
        standing alone, a sufficient basis for believing that the 
        person would not be tortured or subjected to such treatment if 
        the person were removed to the country.

SEC. 4. SAVINGS CLAUSE.

    Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be 
construed to eliminate, limit, or constrain in any way the rights that 
an individual has under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, 
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, or any other applicable 
law.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act takes effect on the date that is 30 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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