New Bill Mandates Immediate Asset Freezes and Visa Bans on Chinese Police Officials and Their Families

This bill, officially titled the “Expel Illegal Chinese Police Act of 2025,” is a direct, hard-hitting mandate to the President. It requires immediate sanctions—starting the day the bill becomes law—against specific police and law enforcement entities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including those in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Fujian. The core purpose is to financially and logistically cut off these foreign agencies and their leaders, especially those involved in setting up or maintaining a Chinese police presence here in the U.S. or intimidating U.S. residents.

The Sanction Hammer: Asset Freezes and Automatic Visa Bans

The sanctions are not subtle. First, the bill requires the President to use powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to freeze and block all property and transactions involving sanctioned PRC entities if that property is in the U.S. or comes under the control of a U.S. person. If you’re a U.S. bank or business, you would immediately have to stop dealing with these sanctioned entities. Second, any sanctioned individual—including senior leaders and anyone associated with the United Front Work Department involved in monitoring or intimidating people in the U.S.—is immediately barred from entering the U.S.

Here’s the part that hits hardest and widens the net: Immediate family members of sanctioned individuals—spouse, parent, sibling, or adult child—are also included in the visa ban. This means if a police chief is sanctioned, their family members who might have legitimate visas or be studying here would see those documents automatically revoked. It’s a broad, punitive measure that doesn't just target the alleged bad actors, but their entire immediate circle, creating significant consequences for people who might have no direct involvement in the targeted activities.

When Uncle Sam Stops Talking to the Police

One of the most interesting and potentially tricky provisions deals with how U.S. federal agencies interact with sanctioned individuals. The bill directs all federal agencies to stop participating in any investigation involving a sanctioned PRC person unless that investigation was started by the U.S. Government itself. The only exception is if the President certifies that the cooperation is “absolutely vital” for the health and safety of U.S. citizens.

In the real world, this is a massive operational shift. Imagine the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security is working on a case that happens to involve a sanctioned person. This provision could force them to pull back, potentially hindering legitimate intelligence gathering or law enforcement cooperation, even if the information exchange was beneficial to the U.S. It’s designed to prevent U.S. agencies from inadvertently aiding foreign police operations, but the risk is that it might also tie the hands of our own investigators, creating a bureaucratic hurdle that requires Presidential intervention just to share information.

The President’s 30-Day Pass

To keep things from grinding to a halt entirely, the President is given a limited escape hatch: the power to issue a temporary waiver of the sanctions, but only for up to 30 days at a time. Critically, to use this waiver, the President must certify to Congress that it is “essential for U.S. national security interests.” This means the sanctions are the default setting, and any pause requires a clear, short-term justification to Congress. While this provides necessary flexibility, the short 30-day window and the requirement to constantly recertify could turn the waiver process into a repetitive administrative headache, potentially undermining the stability of necessary, long-term national security cooperation.