Eliminate PRC Organized Crime Act

The bill falls within Congress's constitutional authority to provide for the common defense and general welfare, and to regulate commerce with foreign nations. Assistance to foreign law enforcement to combat criminal organizations that may affect U.S. interests is a legitimate exercise of federal power in foreign affairs. The Constitution vests in Congress the power to appropriate funds for such purposes, and there is no prohibition against aiding foreign governments in prosecuting crimes. The targeting of Chinese organized criminal groups and government-linked organizations does not exceed co…

This bill proposes an expansive federal program to fund foreign law enforcement capacity-building, aimed specifically at combating certain criminal organizations abroad. Nowhere in the Constitution is the general power to police the world granted to the federal government. Such an undertaking far exceeds the enumerated powers delegated to Congress, and presumptuously intrudes upon the sovereignty of foreign states without warrant or constitutional authority. Moreover, the bill attempts to federalize a matter that is not among the powers ceded to the Union, thereby violating the principle of li…

The power to provide assistance to foreign law enforcement is not among the enumerated powers of Congress in Article I, Section 8; however, the treaty power and the general foreign affairs power of the Executive might support such a program if it is an exercise of the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations or to define and punish offenses against the law of nations, as per Article I, Section 8, Clause 10, and if it is implemented through a treaty or executive agreement consistent with the separation of powers. The condition is that the program must be strictly limited to combating act…

This bill, though commendable in its aim to combat criminal activity, exceeds the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. The authority to provide foreign assistance, particularly for law enforcement capacity building, is not among the enumerated powers of Congress under Article I, Section 8. The necessary and proper clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18) cannot extend to this action because it does not execute any specifically delegated federal power; rather, it intrudes upon matters of foreign affairs and national security that are reserved to the Executive under Article II. The pr…