Sponsors (3)
The bill strengthens national security by removing time limits on prosecuting certain foreign-agent, espionage, and related naturalization-fraud offenses—improving the ability to hold long-hidden misconduct accountable—while increasing legal uncertainty for accused individuals, raising potential investigation costs, and creating some statutory ambiguity.
Law enforcement and federal prosecutors can pursue alleged foreign-agent and espionage-related crimes (including many long-hidden offenses) without a statute of limitations, enabling prosecution of decades-old misconduct and strengthening national security and accountability.
Immigration authorities and prosecutors can pursue naturalization fraud used to facilitate foreign-agent activity at any time, closing a loophole that previously allowed such cases to become time-barred and helping protect the integrity of the citizenship process.
Federal employees and immigrants may face prosecutions for historical conduct decades later because removing the statute of limitations increases uncertainty and retroactive exposure to criminal charges.
Taxpayers and the Department of Justice could shoulder higher costs and longer, resource-intensive investigations as broader prosecutorial reach enables more and lengthier cases.
State governments and law enforcement may face legal uncertainty because removing the reference to section 794 in the Internal Security Act cross-reference could limit certain statutory authorities or defenses and create ambiguity.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Removes the statute of limitations for prosecutions of certain espionage and related foreign-agent offenses and for related naturalization fraud when tied to foreign-agent activity.
Official title: Eliminate the period of limitations for certain offenses, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 9, 2025 by John Cornyn · Last progress July 9, 2025
Makes prosecutions for certain espionage-related crimes timeless by removing the statute of limitations for specified offenses. It adds a new federal criminal chapter saying prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. 951 (acting as an agent of a foreign government) and 18 U.S.C. 794 (espionage) can be started at any time, and it makes a related 18 U.S.C. 1425 (fraudulent naturalization/citizenship) offense timeless when committed to facilitate a 951 violation; it also narrows an existing cross-reference in the Internal Security Act note.