H.R. 8182

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 8182 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8182 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to restrict visa issuance to individuals who have directed, authorized, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 2, 2026 Mr. Moore of North Carolina (for himself, Mrs. Luna, Mrs. Fedorchak, Mr. Kennedy of Utah, Mr. Self, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Fleischmann, Ms. Mace, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Steube, and Mr. Webster of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to restrict visa issuance to individuals who have directed, authorized, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Banning Perpetrators of Religious Persecution Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. RESTRICTING VISA ISSUANCE TO INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE CARRIED OUT VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. Section 212(a)(2)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(G)) is amended to read as follows: ``(G) Aliens who have committed violations of religious freedom.-- ``(i) In general.--Any alien who-- ``(I) while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for, or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom (as defined in section 3(13) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6402(13))); or ``(II) at any time while outside the United States, directed, authorized, significantly supported, participated in, was responsible for, or carried out particularly severe violations of religious freedom or violations of religious freedom (as defined in section 3(16) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 6402(16))); is inadmissible. ``(ii) Public notice.-- ``(I) In general.--Notwithstanding the limitations under section 222(f) with respect to the confidentiality of certain immigration records and except as provided under subclause (II), the Secretary of State shall post, on a publicly accessible website of the Department of State-- ``(aa) the names of all of the aliens determined to be inadmissible under clause (i); and ``(bb) the countries or other locations in which violations of religious freedom described in such clause took place. ``(II) Exception.--If the Secretary of State determines, on a case-by-case basis and in the Secretary's sole and unreviewable discretion, that the public release of the identity of any particular alien determined to be inadmissible under clause (i) would have adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, the Secretary-- ``(aa) may exclude such alien from the disclosure requirement under subclause (I); and ``(bb) shall submit a semiannual report to Congress, in accordance with section 51(a) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2723(a)), explaining the reasons for such exclusion.''. <all>