Experts Urge Sanctions on India and Review of U.S. Arms Sales Over Transnational Repression

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2026

Experts Urge Sanctions on India and Review of U.S. Arms Sales Over Transnational Repression

McGovern, former USCIRF chair, ex-CSIS intelligence official, Freedom House and civil-rights leaders call for action to defend U.S. sovereignty

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. lawmaker and leading experts on national security, intelligence, foreign policy, religious freedom, and civil rights called on Congress and the administration to impose targeted sanctions, review U.S. arms sales to India, strengthen federal investigations and victim protections, and establish a government-wide response to what they described as India’s campaign of transnational repression.

Speaking at a July 14 congressional briefing titled “India’s Transnational Repression: Implications for U.S. National Security,” participants said the threat extends beyond alleged assassination plots and includes surveillance, intimidation, online harassment, threats against family members, denial of consular services, diplomatic activity, and the use of criminal networks to silence critics abroad.

The briefing was organized by Equitas Forum USA, in partnership with Hindus for Human Rights, the Sikh Coalition, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the New York State Council of Churches, and the Dalit Solidarity Forum. It was held in the Cannon House Office Building with the support of the office of Congresswoman Summer Lee.

McGovern Calls for Sanctions and Arms-Sale Review

In recorded remarks, Congressman Jim McGovern, Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, called India a repeated perpetrator of transnational repression.

“India has been a repeated perpetrator,” McGovern said. “An Indian national recently pled guilty to plotting the assassination of a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil. He had the backing of elements of the Indian government.”

“More must be done to ensure that no person in this country lives in fear of a foreign government’s threats,” he said.

McGovern called for targeted sanctions and urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review India’s eligibility for U.S. arms sales under the Arms Export Control Act. He also called on Congress to pass the bipartisan and bicameral Transnational Repression Policy Act.

Former Intelligence Official Warns of State-Criminal Nexus

Daniel Stanton, a former senior officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service who spent 32 years in intelligence and now directs the National Security Program at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute, warned that hostile states increasingly use organized criminal networks as instruments of state power.

“When I began working in counterintelligence … it was a world of spies and double agents,” Stanton said. “Today, a new actor has emerged: the transnational criminal—witting or unwitting—as an instrument of state power.”

“They intimidate and coerce diaspora communities, threaten family members at home, recruit criminal proxies, and facilitate lethal violence against individuals living in democratic countries,” he said. 

“Transnational repression must be recognized early as a pattern, not as a series of isolated incidents,” Stanton added. “My hope is that Canada’s experience serves as an early warning rather than a preview of what the United States could face.”

Former USCIRF Chair Calls Campaign a “Sustained Working Operation”

Dr. Stephen Schneck, former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said alleged Indian transnational repression extended far beyond the most prominent assassination cases.

“This is not confined to a handful of headline-level assassination attempts,” Schneck said. “This is a sustained working operation on the part of the Indian government.”

Schneck noted that USCIRF’s 2026 Annual Report marked the seventh consecutive year it recommended designating India as a Country of Particular Concern and called for targeted sanctions against India’s Research and Analysis Wing and RSS-linked organizations.

“When foreign intelligence officers are credibly tied to [a] murder-for-hire plot on American soil, we need cases against those perpetrators to continue quickly regardless of what is happening at the level of bilateral relations,” he said.

Schneck urged the administration to act on USCIRF’s recommendations, protect prosecutions from diplomatic pressure, and coordinate intelligence and sanctions with democratic allies.

Experts Reject a Double Standard for U.S. Partners

Allison McManus, Managing Director of National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress, said strategic partnerships should not shield governments from consequences.

“We really do need to figure out how to address transnational repression with partners, not give them a free pass just because we have these other interests as well,” McManus said.

“We heard about the fact that there are people who are not willing to be here in this room speaking to you as congressional staff today,” McManus said. “That’s a problem because that will influence how you understand U.S.-India relations, and of course, the Indian government knows that.”

Freedom House Calls for Federal Definition

Katie LaRoque, Director for Policy and Advocacy and Mark Palmer Distinguished Fellow at Freedom House, said the organization has downgraded India from "Free" to "Partly Free" and documented 15 physical incidents connected to India since 2014, including six assassinations or assassination attempts, five credible threats, three detentions, and one rendition.

“We need an official definition of transnational repression codified into U.S. law,” LaRoque said. 

She supported the Transnational Repression Policy Act and called for law-enforcement education and resources, targeted sanctions, and the expulsion of diplomats proven to have engaged in transnational repression.

Sikh Organizations Warn of Community-Wide Fear

Harjot Singh, Federal Policy Manager at the Sikh Coalition, said the danger went beyond individual targets.

“Transnational repression is not merely an attack on individual communities, it is an attack on U.S. sovereignty, fundamental civil liberties, and the safety of all who call America home,” Singh said.

He raised questions about whether intelligence-gathering methods allegedly used through Indian consulates in Canada may also have been used through Indian diplomatic missions in the United States. Singh called for passage of the Transnational Repression Policy Act, sanctions and visa restrictions, and a review of arms sales.

Lavleen Kaur Madahar, Policy Associate at SALDEF, said the objective of transnational repression is “to create enough fear that individuals begin limiting their own speech, advocacy, and participation in civic life.”

She called for a government-wide definition, stronger coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement, and specialized training to help authorities recognize broader foreign-government campaigns.

“Can individuals living in the United States exercise their constitutional rights without fear that a foreign government will threaten them, surveil them, or retaliate against them because of what they say here?” Madahar asked.

Faith Leader Describes Fear of Retaliation

Gary Van Kennen, President of the Executive Committee of the New York State Council of Churches, said two Hindu members of his network declined to attend because they feared retaliation against relatives in India.

“They’re afraid that their families, their extended families in India would somehow be harassed,” Van Kennen said. “And that is a form of transnational repression.”

He also described the detention and deportation of a church delegation that traveled to India.

“We look to bring these issues from a very defined group into Main Street America,” he said. “That’s where change comes from.”

Principal Recommendations

Individual speakers urged Congress and the administration to:

• Establish a government-wide legal definition of transnational repression and pass the Transnational Repression Policy Act. 
• Impose targeted sanctions and visa restrictions on officials and other actors credibly implicated in transnational repression.
• Review India’s eligibility for U.S. arms sales under the Arms Export Control Act. 
• Strengthen investigations, law-enforcement coordination, training, reporting systems, and protections for targeted communities.
• Investigate the use of diplomatic missions and criminal proxies, protect prosecutions from diplomatic pressure, and coordinate enforcement with allied democracies. 
• Support civil-society and faith-based organizations assisting affected communities.

“When a foreign government seeks to threaten, surveil, intimidate, or even kill individuals living in the U.S., that government threatens the U.S. in every conceivable way,” said Ria Chakrabarty, Senior Policy Director at Hindus for Human Rights, who moderated the briefing.

“No foreign government—regardless of its economic importance, strategic relationship with Washington, or geopolitical influence—can intimidate, threaten, or target people living inside this country without consequences,” said Sarita Pandey, Director of Public Affairs and Advocacy at Equitas Forum USA.

Media Contact

Equitas Forum USA
advocacy@equitasforumusa.org