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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-06 10:51:44 -04:00

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LegalText 18 U.S.C. § 959 Enlistment in foreign service us united_states_code code_section 18 CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE 45 FOREIGN RELATIONS 959 18 U.S.C. § 959 current 119-100 2026-06-26 official https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc18@119-100.zip /us/usc/t18/s959 data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml 4bc470c18d6516645c41a4ea731b9f25196bd5986b5073bc315955cef2657d85 1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708 087edc03d87e53344e43d5e0eee91ee8b3a432d9cb98a132b0cdf57cd09342ba 2026-07-04 official
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18 U.S.C. § 959 - Enlistment in foreign service

Text

(a) Whoever, within the United States, enlists or enters himself, or hires or retains another to enlist or enter himself, or to go beyond the jurisdiction of the United States with intent to be enlisted or entered in the service of any foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people as a soldier or as a marine or seaman on board any vessel of war, letter of marque, or privateer, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

(b) This section shall not apply to citizens or subjects of any country engaged in war with a country with which the United States is at war, unless such citizen or subject of such foreign country shall hire or solicit a citizen of the United States to enlist or go beyond the jurisdiction of the United States with intent to enlist or enter the service of a foreign country. Enlistments under this subsection shall be under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Army.

(c) This section and sections 960 and 961 of this title shall not apply to any subject or citizen of any foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people who is transiently within the United States and enlists or enters himself on board any vessel of war, letter of marque, or privateer, which at the time of its arrival within the United States was fitted and equipped as such, or hires or retains another subject or citizen of the same foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people who is transiently within the United States to enlist or enter himself to serve such foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people on board such vessel of war, letter of marque, or privateer, if the United States shall then be at peace with such foreign prince, state, colony, district, or people.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 745; Pub. L. 103322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(H), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)

Notes

Historical and Revision NotesBased on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 22, 30 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §§ 10, 18, 35 Stat. 1089, 1091; May 7, 1917, ch. 11, 40 Stat. 39). Section consolidates said sections of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed. Last sentence of section 30 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., relating to piracy and treason, was omitted as unnecessary. Words “within the United States” were substituted for “within the jurisdiction” etc., in view of the definition of United States in section 5 of this title. References in subsection (c) to sections 960 and 961 of this title are to the only other sections to which the subsection can apply. Mandatory punishment provision was rephrased in the alternative. Minor changes were made in phraseology.

Editorial Notes

Amendments1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.