Donald Trump’s administration on Monday launched a sweeping campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying the court’s purported authority to investigate and prosecute U.S. officials and military personnel poses a threat to U.S. sovereignty.Secretary of State of the United States Marco Rubio unveiled what the State Department described as a “whole-of-government response” designed to “systematically undermine the ICC’s ability to operate, target U.S. service members or officials, or otherwise threaten U.S. sovereignty.”The U.S. State Department said in a statement that “the ICC poses an intolerable threat to U.S. sovereignty” and said the court “claims the authority to prosecute and even imprison U.S. service members and officials” even though the U.S. has never ratified the Rome Statute establishing the ICC.As part of the campaign, Washington will step up diplomatic efforts to persuade countries to withdraw from the ICC, while also considering revoking visas, travel bans and expanding sanctions on ICC officials and affiliated organizations.Rubio, top diplomats and U.S. ambassadors will urge foreign governments to reject what Washington calls the ICC’s “alleged authority” over U.S. citizens, according to the State Department. Countries that host U.S. military forces, cooperate with U.S. law enforcement or benefit from U.S. security assistance are also required to deny the court’s jurisdiction over Americans. Countries that continue to support the ICC while relying on U.S. aid may face increased scrutiny.Rubio said in a video speech that the government’s move is aimed at protecting the country’s right to govern and prosecute its own citizens.“For 250 years, Americans have governed ourselves as a free and sovereign people. We choose our own leaders, we make our own laws, and when we are accused of a crime, we stand trial before a jury of our peers,” he said, calling it a “fundamental and integral feature of our form of government.”Rubio argued that the ICC has evolved into “a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their powers are virtually unlimited,” adding that it now threatens “every aspect of our political and legal systems.”“The American people never agreed to this and they never will,” he said. “If they believe they can take away our sovereignty, we will teach them the full meaning of American resolve.”Rubio also laid out the administration’s position in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that the ICC has expanded far beyond its original mandate as a court to prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.“It is difficult for most of us to imagine a world in which American soldiers, police, Border Patrol agents and elected leaders could be dragged before an international court,” Rubio wrote, adding that this is “what the ICC now claims the authority to do.”He said successive U.S. administrations have rejected the court’s jurisdiction over Americans, noting that former President Bill Clinton never submitted the Rome Statute to the Senate for ratification and that Congress later passed the Servicemembers Protection Act to protect U.S. personnel from prosecution at the ICC.Rubio also cited the International Criminal Court’s 2020 investigation into alleged war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, calling it “the opening move in an attack on U.S. autonomy.”Rubio warned that the court could end up targeting Border Patrol agents, military personnel and federal prosecutors, arguing that accepting the ICC’s authority would amount to giving up U.S. sovereignty.“The Trump Administration will always protect American service members from this threat,” he wrote. “Using all the tools at our government’s disposal… we will dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, if necessary.”
