Sanction Sea Pirates Act of 2025
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Would require the President to impose mandatory asset-blocking and visa-denial sanctions on any foreign person determined to have knowingly engaged in piracy, responding to a surge in attacks on commercial shipping near Somalia and in the Red Sea.
The bill would make such sanctions non-discretionary — the President must act once a determination is made — and would attach civil and criminal penalties for anyone who violates the implementing regulations.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would require the President to impose two categories of sanctions on any foreign individual or entity determined to have knowingly engaged in piracy — defined by reference to chapter 81 of title 18 of the U.S. Code. First, it would authorize blocking all property and property interests of such persons in the United States or within the control of a U.S. person. Second, it would bar those aliens from receiving U.S. visas, being admitted or paroled into the United States, or benefiting under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and would require immediate revocation of any existing visas. Violations of the implementing regulations would carry the civil and criminal penalties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The bill carves out several exceptions: sanctions may not restrict humanitarian transactions, may not apply to authorized U.S. intelligence or law enforcement activities, and must yield to international obligations such as the UN Headquarters Agreement. The President may waive sanctions by certifying to designated congressional committees at least 15 days in advance that the waiver is crucial to national security. Sanctions on the importation of goods are explicitly excluded.
Key provisions
- 1Would require the President to impose asset-blocking and visa-denial sanctions on any foreign person determined to have knowingly engaged in piracy.
- 2Would block all U.S.-jurisdictional property and property interests of sanctioned foreign persons, invoking International Emergency Economic Powers Act authorities.
- 3Would render sanctioned aliens inadmissible, ineligible for U.S. visas, and subject to immediate revocation of any existing visas or entry documents.
- 4Would exempt humanitarian transactions, UN Headquarters Agreement obligations, and U.S. intelligence and law enforcement activities from the sanctions requirements.
- 5Would apply IEEPA civil and criminal penalties to anyone who violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of the implementing regulations.
- 6Would allow the President to waive sanctions by certifying to Congress at least 15 days before the waiver takes effect that it is crucial to national security.
Who would be affected
Foreign individuals and entities — including Somali pirates and any foreign national — who are determined to have knowingly engaged in piracy would face asset freezes and visa bans. U.S. persons who hold or transact in property linked to sanctioned pirates would also be affected. The Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security would be directed to enforce the visa and entry provisions.
Why it matters
If enacted, the President would lose discretion to avoid sanctions once a piracy determination is made, unlike most discretionary sanctions regimes. Sanctioned individuals would be immediately locked out of the U.S. financial system and barred from entry. Private parties who violate the resulting regulations — even unknowingly — would face IEEPA criminal and civil penalties, which can be substantial.
What would change
Agencies directed to act
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1998 would have insignificant effects on revenues and direct spending, and would, on net, reduce deficits by insignificant amounts over the 2025–2035 period.
CBO estimates that H.R. 1998, which would require the Administration to impose sanctions on foreign persons knowingly engaged in piracy, would produce only negligible budgetary effects — all direct spending and revenue figures for 2025, 2025–2030, and 2025–2035 fall between -$500,000 and $500,000. The small expected increase in sanctions would affect very few people, resulting in insignificant reductions in visa-fee revenues and in direct spending (such as emergency Medicaid and subsidized health insurance) for those denied entry. The bill contains no intergovernmental mandates, but it does impose a private-sector mandate — such as added compliance burdens on banks that must monitor and block transactions involving sanctioned parties — that CBO estimates would fall well below UMRA's annual private-sector threshold of $206 million.
How implementation would work
The President would make individual determinations that a foreign person knowingly engaged in piracy, triggering mandatory sanctions. The Treasury Department and State Department would promulgate implementing regulations under authorities in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Consular officers and the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security would administer visa revocations. The President would report to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations before exercising any national-security waiver. No rulemaking timeline is specified; sanctions and visa revocations would take effect immediately upon a determination.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Official CRS summary
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This bill requires the President to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on any foreign person (individual or entity) that the President determines knowingly engages in piracy.
The bill also applies civil and criminal penalties to persons that violate, attempt to violate, conspire to violate, or cause a violation of the regulations promulgated to carry out such sanctions.
Legislative subjects
Foreign property; International Affairs; International law and treaties; Marine and inland water transportation; Presidents and presidential powers, Vice Presidents; Sanctions; Visas and passports