in effect
This is Executive Order 14203, signed February 6, 2025, which declares a national emergency and imposes sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC). Acting under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the National Emergencies Act, and immigration law, the President directs the U.S. government to freeze assets and block U.S. entry for certain people connected to specified ICC actions. The order states its trigger is ICC efforts to investigate, arrest, or prosecute U.S. personnel and personnel of allies such as Israel, including arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The order blocks all U.S.-based property and assets of one person named in its Annex, plus any foreign person the Secretary of State later designates for directly engaging in, materially supporting, or acting on behalf of covered ICC actions against “protected persons.” U.S. persons are prohibited from providing funds, goods, or services to, or receiving them from, anyone blocked under the order, and donations to such persons are barred. It also suspends U.S. entry — as immigrants or nonimmigrants — for designated individuals, ICC employees and agents, and their spouses and children, unless the Secretary of State makes an exception. Within 60 days, the Treasury Secretary must give the President a report recommending additional people to add to the sanctions list. No advance notice is required before a person is listed, and attempts to evade or conspire to violate the prohibitions are themselves prohibited.
The direct targets are the person named in the order’s Annex and future foreign persons designated for their role in ICC actions against protected U.S. or allied personnel, along with ICC officials, employees, and agents and their immediate family members — who face frozen U.S. assets and/or a bar on entering the country. “Protected persons” covered by the order include current and former U.S. military members, U.S. officials, and others working for the U.S. government, as well as equivalent personnel of NATO members and major non-NATO allies that have not consented to ICC jurisdiction. U.S. persons and businesses are also affected because they are legally barred from most dealings with anyone sanctioned under the order.