Editor’s Note: a guest post by Louisiana state Sen. Valarie Hodges.

When I first introduced legislation in 2025 to address domestic threats posed by foreign governments or entities officially designated by the federal government as threats to America’s national security, foreign policy, or the economy, many of my colleagues had not yet been exposed to the scope of the problems we face in Louisiana. That initial bill failed, not because the danger wasn’t real, but because our legislature and the public needed access to information that wasn’t widely available.

With the support of Senate President Cameron Henry, my colleagues in the Louisiana Freedom Caucus, where I serve as Vice Chair, and other legislative leaders, I created and chaired the Foreign Adversary Task Force. Through hearings, intelligence briefings, public outreach, and guidance from law enforcement, we closed the information gap and created a comprehensive slate of state-level foreign adversary bills for the 2026 session.

We spent many months with the help of the Trump Administration bringing together the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Police, the Governor’s office, the Attorney General’s office, Louisiana National Guard, military leaders, cybersecurity experts, and national security specialists. We examined how hostile foreign governments can exploit states like Louisiana through purchases of land near our military installations, their involvement in key elements of our critical infrastructure, providing slanted education materials through state contracting, and through efforts to pressure individuals to comply with foreign legal or political systems.

Louisiana’s legislation looks to the federal government’s official designations of foreign adversary nations including China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, and foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas and other Muslim Brotherhood organizations, Hizballah, ISIS, al-Qaeda, MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and designated Mexican drug cartels.

We prohibited foreign adversaries and anyone representing or affiliated with these nations or groups from acquiring strategically located property near our military installations. We gave Louisiana expropriation tools to address existing foreign adversary-owned property that threatens military readiness. We prohibited state agencies from contracting with named foreign adversary owned or controlled companies or groups and authorized a review of existing contracts to ensure taxpayer dollars are not supporting hostile regimes.

We also took steps to protect Louisiana’s education system from the influence of governments and groups whose laws and interests are directly opposed to the constitutions of our state and the nation. We specifically instructed the Department of Education to review materials and contracts for this purpose.

To protect our Louisiana families, we prohibited arbitration in child custody disputes and barred Louisiana courts from recognizing foreign custody rulings that conflict with the U.S. or Louisiana Constitutions. We also strengthened penalties for crimes committed on behalf of foreign adversaries, foreign terrorist organizations, or under the color of foreign law, including surveillance, intimidation, and coercion to comply with foreign law or legal systems.

I’m especially grateful to the members of the Louisiana Freedom Caucus who helped champion these reforms, Governor Jeff Landry who signed these bills into law, my Republican and Democrat colleagues who worked with us and those who voted to protect our state. The safety of the people of Louisiana and our nation should never be a partisan issue.

Louisiana took an important step forward this year, but our work isn’t finished. That’s why we renewed the Foreign Adversary Task Force this year to stay ahead of these evolving threats. Our duty as legislators is to protect the people we serve, and through the State Freedom Caucus Network, we will continue sharing Louisiana’s model so other states can strengthen their own defenses against foreign adversaries.

As Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence, noted at our nation’s founding, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”