Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60

§450 Restrictions on Use of American Ports

Title 22 › Chapter 9— FOREIGN WARS, WAR MATERIALS, AND NEUTRALITY › Subchapter II— NEUTRALITY › § 450

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President can make a ship’s owner or captain post a bond before the ship leaves U.S. ports during a war in which the United States is neutral. If he believes the ship might send people, fuel, weapons, supplies, messages, or any part of its cargo to a warship or supply ship of a foreign state named in a presidential proclamation, and the proof is not strong enough to seize the ship, he can require a money guarantee promising the ship will not make those deliveries. If the President finds a ship in a U.S. port already left earlier and did make such deliveries during the war, he may stop that ship from leaving for the duration of the war. While that presidential proclamation is in effect, the President may also require a bond to promise that any foreign seaman who arrived on the ship will not stay longer than allowed by immigration rules. He may make rules about landing such seamen and can require the ship’s owner or captain to pay to send them away on that or another vessel.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §450

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whenever, during any war in which the United States is neutral, the President, or any person thereunto authorized by him, shall have cause to believe that any vessel, domestic or foreign, whether requiring clearance or not, is about to carry out of a port or from the jurisdiction of the United States, fuel, men, arms, ammunition, implements of war, supplies, dispatches, or information to any warship, tender, or supply ship of a state named in a proclamation issued under the authority of section 441(a) of this title, but the evidence is not deemed sufficient to justify forbidding the departure of the vessel as provided for by section 967 of title 18, and if, in the President’s judgment, such action will serve to maintain peace between the United States and foreign states, or to protect the commercial interests of the United States and its citizens, or to promote the security or neutrality of the United States, he shall have the power, and it shall be his duty, to require the owner, master, or person in command thereof, before departing from a port or from the jurisdiction of the United States, to give a bond to the United States, with sufficient sureties, in such amount as he shall deem proper, conditioned that the vessel will not deliver the men, or any fuel, supplies, dispatches, information, or any part of the cargo, to any warship, tender, or supply ship of a state named in a proclamation issued under the authority of section 441(a) of this title.
(b)If the President, or any person thereunto authorized by him, shall find that a vessel, domestic or foreign, in a port of the United States, has previously departed from a port or from the jurisdiction of the United States during such war and delivered men, fuel, supplies, dispatches, information, or any part of its cargo to a warship, tender, or supply ship of a state named in a proclamation issued under the authority of section 441(a) of this title, he may prohibit the departure of such vessel during the duration of the war.
(c)Whenever the President shall have issued a proclamation under section 441(a) of this title he may, while such proclamation is in effect, require the owner, master, or person in command of any vessel, foreign or domestic, before departing from the United States, to give a bond to the United States, with sufficient sureties, in such amount as he shall deem proper, conditioned that no alien seaman who arrived on such vessel shall remain in the United States for a longer period than that permitted under the regulations, as amended from time to time, issued pursuant to section 168 11 See References in Text note below. of title 8. Notwithstanding the provisions of said section 168 1 of title 8, the President may issue such regulations with respect to the landing of such seamen as he deems necessary to insure their departure either on such vessel or another vessel at the expense of such owner, master, or person in command.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Section 168 of title 8, referred to in subsec. (c), was repealed by act
June 27, 1952, ch. 477, § 403(a)(13), 66 Stat. 279. See section 1286 of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality. Codification In subsec. (a), “section 967 of title 18” substituted for “section 1, title V, chapter 30, of the Act approved
June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 217, 221; U.S.C., 1934 edition, title 18, sec. 31)” on authority of act
June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 863, section 1 of which enacted Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.

Executive Documents

Delegation of Functions For delegation to Secretary of Homeland Security of authority vested in President by subsecs. (a) and (b) of this section, see section 1(n) and 1(o) of Ex. Ord. No. 10637, Sept. 16, 1955, 20 F.R. 7025, as amended, set out as a note under section 301 of Title 3, The President.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 450

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60