Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law: Texas Penal Code §76.046

The Texas Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law law gives police the right to arrest you if they believe you acted on behalf of a foreign government or a foreign terrorist organization to stop someone in Texas from breaking that foreign country’s laws, or you monitored or surveilled someone in Texas for that purpose, and you did it without advance approval from Texas or the United States.

This offense is codified in the Texas Penal Code under Chapter 76 as §76.046. It sits beside other national security–adjacent crimes (which the legislature began enacting in 2023) and references the definition for “agent of a foreign government or foreign terrorist organization” created in another offense created in the 2025 legislature, Transnational Repression.

Texas advanced this offense amid a right-wing political campaign against perceived incursions of foreign or religious legal codes into public life. State leaders publicly urged Texans to report attempts at “Sharia compliance” and framed private religious exhortations as unlawful efforts to impose foreign law. Against that backdrop, the legislature created a new crime that allows arrests where the state characterizes conduct as enforcing foreign law inside Texas.

The law takes effect September 1, 2025. On paper, the law appears to target activity inside Texas that enforces another nation’s laws without permission from Texas or the federal government. It also reaches surveillance and monitoring that is done to keep a person from violating a foreign law, whether the conduct happens online or in person.

Policy concerns, unintended consequences, and why this law was really passed

The state did not create Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law to stop a genuine threat of foreign religious codes “taking over.” The real goal is political. The law gives officials a new way to badge ordinary speech, protest activity, and community organizing as “foreign law enforcement” by merely alleging a link to a foreign government or a designated group. That framing lets authorities target an “other” and claim they are protecting Texans, while in practice they expand police power over protected expression.

The statutory trigger is broad on purpose. It criminalizes preventing a person from violating foreign law inside Texas, and it also criminalizes monitoring, investigating, or surveilling that person for that purpose, if done as an “agent” and without prior approval from Texas or the United States. That language reaches far beyond covert operatives. It can be stretched to reach religious leaders, student organizers, journalists, and diaspora activists who speak, watch, and document events tied to politics overseas. The same words that protect whistleblowing and advocacy can be reframed as “monitoring” or “investigating” for a foreign code. Once an officer asserts an “agency” link, the arrest power follows.

Because prosecutions under this law turn on elastic ideas like who counts as an “agent” and what counts as “monitoring” or “preventing,” the statute can chill lawful religious and political speech. A sermon that urges congregants to follow a faith’s moral code can be spun as policing foreign law. A campus teach-in about overseas boycotts can be reframed as investigating Texans to stop a foreign-law violation. The state can then claim violations are not about speech at all, but about unapproved law-enforcement work for a foreign power. That rhetorical move offers legal cover for stricter crackdowns on protest and dissent.

The structure of the offense also creates leverage. An accusation of unauthorized “enforcement” supports arrests, electronic searches, and seizures that can disrupt organizing even if charges later fail. The only built-in escape hatch is getting prior approval from Texas or the United States, which almost no speaker or activist would have or even know to request. The combination of vague agency theories and a rare approval defense invites selective enforcement against disfavored groups.

The Penal Code classifies the Texas Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law law under Title 12 “Terrorism,” Chapter 76 “Terroristic Offenses.” Learn more about the Texas offense of Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law below.

What is the current Texas law about Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law?

AV Preeminent Texas lawyer Paul Saputo provides the current law defining Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law in Penal Code Section §76.046, as follows:^[1]

(b) A person commits an offense if, as an agent of a foreign government or foreign terrorist organization, the person, without the approval of this state or the United States:

(1) prevents another person in this state from violating the laws of a foreign government; or

(2) detects, investigates, monitors, or surveilles another person in this state for the purpose of preventing the other person from violating the laws of a foreign government.

On paper, the statute applies only when someone acts as an agent of a foreign government or foreign terrorist organization and, without prior approval from Texas or the United States, prevents a person from violating foreign law or monitors, investigates, or surveils them for that purpose.^[2]

The term “agent of a foreign government or foreign terrorist organization” is defined in the Transnational Repression law and covers a person acting on behalf of, or employed or controlled by, a foreign government or foreign terrorist organization. The statute also cross-references the existing definition of “foreign terrorist organization.”^[3]

This law applies to conduct that occurs on or after September 1, 2025. If the alleged conduct predates that effective date, the prior law applies and this new offense is not available to the state.^[4]

What is the penalty for a Texas Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law offense?

The offense is a felony of the second degree, with no special enhancement language beyond the base classification. That penalty applies regardless of whether the conduct alleged is preventing a perceived violation of foreign law or surveilling for that purpose, so long as the other elements are met.^[5]

What is an “agent of a foreign government or foreign terrorist organization” under this law?

The statute defines an “agent of a foreign government or foreign terrorist organization” by cross-referencing to the definition in Section 76.045, covering people who act on behalf of or at the direction of or under the control of a foreign government or a foreign terrorist organization.^[6]

The statute also incorporates Chapter 71’s existing definition of “foreign terrorist organization,” so that term has the same meaning used in Chapter 71.^[7]

How can I be charged with a Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law offense in Texas?

You can be charged with Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law in Texas if the state’s attorneys believe that each of the elements of §76.046(b), as described in the section above, have been met.

What is the statute of limitations for Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law in Texas?

Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law offenses have a three-year limitations period.^[8]

Can you get probation for Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law in Texas?

The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure allows both judges and juries to grant probation for Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law, and judges are also allowed to accept deferred adjudication plea deals.^[9]

Note, however, that no matter the offense, neither judges nor juries may recommend community supervision for any suspended sentence of over 10 years.^[10] Also, judges may not grant community supervision after a conviction if (1) the defendant used or exhibited a deadly weapon during the commission of the felony or immediate flight thereafter and (2) the defendant used or exhibited the deadly weapon himself or was a party to the offense and knew that a deadly weapon would be used or exhibited.^[11]

What level of crime is Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law in Texas?

The Penal Code classifies the punishment for Unauthorized Enforcement of Foreign Law as a second degree felony.

Learn more about the penalty range for this offense in the section above.

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Legal References:

^1. Texas Penal Code §76.046. This law is current as of 2025.^2. Texas Penal Code §76.046(b), as enacted by SB 1349, 89th Texas Legislature (RS), Section 1^3. Texas Penal Code §76.045(a)(1)–(2), as enacted by SB 1349, 89th Texas Legislature (RS), Section 1; Texas Penal Code §71.01^4. SB 1349, 89th Texas Legislature (RS), Section 5^5. Texas Penal Code §76.046(c), as enacted by SB 1349, 89th Texas Legislature (RS), Section 1^6. Texas Penal Code §76.045(a)(1), as enacted by SB 1349, 89th Legislature (RS), Section 1^7. Texas Penal Code §71.01, Texas Penal Code §76.045(a)(2), as enacted by SB 1349, 89th Legislature (RS), Section 1^8. See Code of Criminal Procedure §12.01(11)^9. See Chapter 42A, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Art. 42A.054, Art. 42A.056, Art. 42A.102^10. Art. 42A.053(c), Texas Code of Criminal Procedure^11. Art. 42A.054(b), Texas Code of Criminal Procedure