Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks at the Convening of the Reproductive Rights Task Force

Remarks as Delivered

Good afternoon.

In just a few minutes, the Justice Department’s Reproductive Rights Task Force will brief me on the Department’s most recent efforts to protect the reproductive rights guaranteed to all Americans under federal law.

But before we begin, I want to talk a little bit about a significant national security-related enforcement action that the Justice Department has just taken.

The Department has charged former U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, Victor Manuel Rocha, with illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government.

This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the U.S. government by a foreign agent.

Specifically, the criminal complaint alleges that, for over 40 years, Rocha acted as a covert agent of the Cuban government. To that end, the complaint alleges, Rocha sought out employment with the U.S. government that would provide him with access to non-public information and the ability to affect U.S. foreign policy.

Between 1981 and 2002, Rocha was employed at the State Department and held a number of senior positions in the U.S. government.

Those included service on the National Security Council, with special responsibility for Cuba, among other things. It included service as Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. And it included service as the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 1999 to 2002.

After leaving the State Department, Rocha served as an advisor to the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command. The area of responsibility of that U.S. military command includes Cuba.

The complaint alleges that Rocha sought out and used his positions within the United States government to support Cuba’s clandestine intelligence-gathering mission against the United States.

After the FBI received information that Rocha was a covert agent of Cuba’s intelligence service, an FBI undercover proceeded to engage with Rocha on several occasions.

As detailed in the complaint, Rocha repeatedly referred to the United States as the “enemy.”

He told the undercover that his efforts to infiltrate the United States government were “meticulous” and “very disciplined.”

And he repeatedly bragged about the significance of his efforts, saying that “what has been done, has strengthened the Revolution … immensely.”

The FBI arrested Rocha on Friday in Miami. He is making his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida this afternoon.

As is always the case, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

I want to thank the FBI, the Department’s National Security Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida — as well as our partners at the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service — for their excellent work on this case.

Those who have the privilege of serving in the government of the United States are given an enormous amount of trust by the public we serve. To betray that trust by falsely pledging loyalty to the United States while serving a foreign power is a crime that will be met with the full force of the Justice Department.

Let me now turn to the topic of today’s briefing.

Over the past 18 months, the Justice Department has been working to defend the reproductive freedoms that are protected by federal law.

As part of that work, we are continuing to vigilantly monitor state laws and enforcement actions that threaten to infringe on women’s reproductive rights.

Last month, we filed a statement of interest in two lawsuits challenging the Alabama Attorney General’s threat to prosecute people who provide assistance to women seeking lawful out-of-state abortions. 

As I said on the day Dobbs was decided, bedrock constitutional principles dictate that women who reside in states that have banned access to comprehensive reproductive care must remain free to seek that care in states where it is legal. In Justice Kavanaugh’s words, this question is “not especially difficult.”

Our brief explains that the threatened Alabama prosecutions infringe the constitutional right to travel. It also makes clear that states may not punish third parties for assisting women in exercising that right.

We are also continuing to litigate the suit we brought to ensure that women in Idaho have access to the emergency care guaranteed by the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA.

Idaho’s law prohibits abortion even when it is the medically necessary treatment to stabilize a patient’s emergency medical condition. Last week, we filed a brief in the Supreme Court to preserve an injunction that blocks Idaho’s law to the extent it prohibits doctors from providing the care required that is required by EMTALA.

The Justice Department will continue to vigilantly monitor laws and actions that infringe on federal protections of reproductive rights. And we will take appropriate actions to defend those rights.

We are also continuing to advise federal agencies on legal issues related to reproductive health in the aftermath of Dobbs. And we are defending agencies as litigation arises.

More than two decades ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug mifepristone as safe and effective to terminate early pregnancies.

But in an unprecedented decision issued earlier this year, the District Court for the Northern District of Texas displaced the FDA’s expert judgment and blocked the agency’s approval of mifepristone.

We quickly obtained a stay of that decision from the Supreme Court while the case is on appeal. And now that the Fifth Circuit has affirmed the District Court’s decision in part, we are seeking Supreme Court review to ensure that mifepristone remains available on the terms approved by the FDA.

The Department of Justice will not cease its efforts to preserve access to mifepristone and defend the FDA’s expert judgments.

Finally, we continue to work to protect health care providers and people seeking reproductive health services.

We continue to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — known as the FACE Act. That law prohibits anyone from obstructing access to reproductive health services — including abortion services, pharmacies that provide reproductive health care services, and pregnancy counseling services — through violence, threats of violence, or property damage.

We are working to ensure that prosecutors across the country are equipped to bring FACE Act cases. And we have emphasized that Civil Rights Division attorneys are always available for consultation and technical assistance.

All of this important work has been done and coordinated by the dedicated public servants on the Department’s Reproductive Rights Task Force. And it has been led by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

I am deeply grateful to Vanita for her extraordinary leadership. And I am likewise grateful to the professionals across the Department who work every day to uphold the reproductive freedoms guaranteed by federal law.

Together, we will continue to fulfill the Department’s founding responsibility to protect the civil rights of all Americans.

I am looking forward to this afternoon’s briefing. Vanita, would you like to make some remarks, before we begin?