Omar Files Resolution Opposing Rubio’s ICC Threat as He’s Sued for ICC Sanctions

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) has introduced legislation urging the U.S. to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), pushing back against Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s campaign to “dismantle” the institution. The move comes as Rubio has been slapped with a new lawsuit accusing him of unconstitutionally sanctioning the court’s officials and a UN human rights expert.

Earlier this week, Rubio announced that the U.S. is engaging in an all-out campaign to attack the ICC, which was created as a mechanism to prosecute individuals responsible for carrying out grave violations of human rights, like genocide and war crimes. The Trump administration has already taken sweeping actions against the ICC, including a wide-reaching sanctions campaign against the court that seeks to erode its ability to carry out its mandate.

On Wednesday, Omar said that she’s introducing a resolution, similar to one she introduced in 2022, that would call on the U.S. to become a full member of the ICC, joining 125 other countries that are party to the court’s founding statute.

Rubio did not mince words when he threatened the ICC in a video and op-ed published Monday, saying that the U.S. is undertaking a “whole-of-government response to systematically disable” the court, especially with regard to its ability to prosecute U.S. officials and soldiers.

Omar has condemned Rubio’s argument that the U.S.’s sovereignty is threatened by the existence of the court. “Secretary Rubio’s announcement that he will dismantle the International Criminal Court is reckless and dangerous,” Omar said in a statement on Monday.

“America is strongest when we lead with our values, not when we demand immunity from them,” she went on. “If we respect human rights, uphold the rule of law, and hold ourselves to the same standards we ask of others, we have nothing to fear from the ICC.”

Also on Wednesday, two groups filed a lawsuit against Rubio, President Donald Trump, and other officials over the administration’s sanctions campaign against the ICC, prominent UN human rights expert Francesca Albanese, and top Palestinian human rights groups. Such sanctions have severely disrupted the lives and operations of those targeted, and have had a chilling effect on advocacy for Palestinian rights in particular. Albanese, for one, is subject to sanctions that lock her out of the global banking system, which many describe as a “civil death,”

The lawsuit, filed by Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and Taxpayers Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG), contends that the administration is violating the First Amendment by barring Americans and advocacy groups from interacting with the sanctioned parties. It also argues that the sanctions are too far reaching and exceed the president’s authority.

“The Trump administration is using the blunt instrument of economic sanctions not only to punish human rights defenders but to police the political expression of millions of Americans,” said Omar Shakir, executive director for DAWN, in a statement. “The government is violating the constitutional rights of American citizens in order to shield officials of a foreign government who have committed a genocide.”

The Trump administration has been accused of a litany of violations of international law. Domestically, human rights groups have raised dire concern about his administration’s mass deportation campaign. With regard to foreign policy, the administration has been accused of war crimes in its boat strike campaign and conduct of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

Rubio names all of these policies as reasons that the U.S. must shield itself from prosecution. He also names the ICC’s investigation into potential war crimes committed by U.S. figures in Afghanistan, like the U.S. armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency, in relation to the U.S.’s decades-long campaign to destabilize and meddle with the government in the country — an investigation that has already faced sabotage by the U.S.