SB 509 is a bipartisan bill to protect all of California's communities from transnational repression.

Transnational repression is when foreign governments reach across our borders to intimidate, threaten, and harm Americans. It often targets journalists, human rights defenders, and religious, ethnic, or political minorities.

SB 509 will formally define transnational repression. It will also require professionals at the Office of Emergency Services to create a training about it for our law enforcement. This training will give officers the tools and context they need to understand when a crime may be transnational repression.

We urge Gov. Newsom to sign this simple measure to help keep all of our communities safe.

As a member of the Sikh community in California, I urge you to support SB 509, a bill to address the threat of transnational repression in our state. This critical legislation will help protect individuals and organizations from intimidation, harassment, and threats by foreign governments and their agents and proxies. Such actors are currently working to silence diaspora communities, including U.S.-based Sikhs in California.

SB 509 formally defines transnational repression and requires the California Office of Emergency Services, along with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, to develop training for law enforcement agencies to recognize and respond to these threats, both at the local level and collaboratively with federal agencies. A contextual understanding of transnational repression, developed and delivered by the professionals at CalOES and POST, will help our law enforcement officers better understand the fears of—and threats to—California communities.

Recent events have underscored the urgency of this issue for the Sikh community in particular. In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted an Indian national for allegedly working with an Indian government official to assassinate a Sikh American activist on U.S. soil; one year later, the DOJ then issued another indictment charging a then-Indian intelligence officer with leading this plot. Additionally, an August 2024 shooting on Interstate 505, west of Sacramento, targeting another Sikh activist may have been an additional assassination attempt. Beyond that, California Sikhs (including elected officials) have been subjected to threats, surveillance, and harassment at houses of worship that all fit the pattern of transnational repression.

To be clear, the Sikh community is just one example of a broader pattern of foreign governments using threats, surveillance, and coercion against American citizens. The human rights organization Freedom House has tracked an increasing number of governments using transnational repression to target dissidents, activists, journalists, academics, and others across borders. The far-reaching nature of this threat is underscored by the fact that SB 509 is supported by Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Kashmiri, Japanese, Iranian, South Asian, immigrant and human rights, and law enforcement organizations. The California State Legislature clearly agrees, having passed SB 509 38-0 in the Senate and __ in the Assembly.

I respectfully urge you to sign SB 509 into law: Our state must stand against transnational repression, protect our communities, and hold perpetrators accountable. Thank you for your leadership in keeping Californians safe.