The bill is called the “No Passports for Terrorists and Traffickers” provision. The name is designed to make opposition sound like sympathy for criminals. But what Section 226 of H.R. 5300 actually does is give Secretary of State Marco Rubio the unilateral power to revoke the U.S. passport of any American citizen he personally “determines” has provided support to a designated group — without a conviction, without a charge, and without meaningful judicial review.

The provision was scheduled for markup before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on September 17, 2025. United Voices has sent a formal letter to committee members urging its rejection. Read the full letter here.

The vagueness is not an oversight — it is the point. “Material support” is undefined. “Determination” requires no evidentiary standard. The secretary decides, and the passport disappears. Courts are left with limited grounds to intervene. The practical effect is a tool that can be aimed at any American whose political speech the current administration finds inconvenient — journalists, human rights advocates, students, activists, anyone who has spoken publicly against U.S. complicity in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

This is not hypothetical. Secretary Rubio has already demonstrated exactly how he uses such powers. He revoked the visa of Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk for writing a divestment op-ed. He authorized the detention of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil for his anti-genocide activism. He detained Mohsen Mahdawi, also at Columbia. In each case, federal courts had to intervene to stop the administration from weaponizing immigration enforcement against constitutionally protected speech.

Section 226 would extend that same logic to U.S. passports — meaning American citizens, not just visa holders, would be subject to having their right to travel stripped away by a secretary’s personal political judgment. “The effect of Section 226 is to shield Israel from First Amendment-protected criticism and to strip Americans of their fundamental right to travel,” United Voices said. “This legislation places Israel First over the rights of American citizens.”

The passport is not just a travel document. It is proof of belonging — of the right to move freely through the world as an American. A government that can take it away without charge, without conviction, and without meaningful court oversight is a government that has made free speech conditional on political loyalty. That is not how constitutional democracy is supposed to work. United Voices is calling on every member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to reject Section 226 and to refuse to hand any Secretary of State that kind of unchecked power over American citizens.