North Miami-Dade News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) introduced legislation to make foreign officials who violate the First Amendment rights of Americans inadmissible to the United States.

“Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes is the vanguard of an international assault on freedom of speech against American citizens like Elon Musk,” said Chairwoman Salazar. “Freedom of Speech is a natural and inalienable right which knows no borders. The enforcers of censorship are not welcome in the land of the free, the United States.”

The No Censors on our Shores Act specifies that foreign government officials acting against American citizens while they are in the U.S.—actions that would violate their First Amendment rights had they occurred in this country—can be refused entry into the United States or deported once here.

The bill specifically amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to deem any foreign official who violates the First Amendment rights of Americans on U.S. soil as inadmissible and subject to deportation from the United States.

Chairwoman Salazar championed the cause of free speech in Brazil in a recent hearing detailing the Brazilian government’s crackdown on X users who disagree with them politically.

“We are all aware of the abuse of power by the Supreme Court in Brazil that is targeting Elon Musk and blocking access to X, a privately held American company. But the free speech rights of Americans are also under attack all over the world, and in many nations that we might not expect,” said Rep. Issa. “With the No Censors on Our Shores Act, foreign government officials will be put on notice: Deny our citizens their First Amendment rights, and this country will deny you entry to America or show you the door.”

Read the full text of the legislation here.

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