Sponsors (11)
The bill increases accountability and transparency by barring and publicly listing foreign officials responsible for severe religious‑freedom abuses, but it raises risks of wrongful exclusion, reputational and due‑process harms to named individuals, and potential diplomatic or intelligence fallout.
Immigration applicants and religious organizations: the bill makes foreign officials who committed particularly severe violations of religious freedom inadmissible to the U.S., increasing accountability for human-rights abuses.
U.S. citizens, taxpayers, and civil-society groups: the bill requires public posting of identities of those barred for severe religious-freedom violations, creating greater transparency and enabling oversight.
State and federal foreign-policy actors: by tying the authority to the definitions in 22 U.S.C. 6402, the bill clarifies standards and may strengthen U.S. human-rights messaging and diplomacy.
People seeking visas or refuge: the bill could lead to denials based on extraterritorial conduct that is hard to adjudicate, increasing the risk of wrongful exclusions.
Named individuals and their associates: publicly posting identities risks reputational harm, personal danger, privacy intrusions, and limits on review of the designation, raising due-process concerns.
U.S. diplomacy and intelligence operations: mandatory public naming could complicate diplomatic relationships and intelligence-sharing if disclosures harm foreign-policy partners or sensitive sources.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars visas/admission for foreign officials and others tied to "particularly severe" religious persecution and requires State Dept. to publish their identities unless withheld for foreign policy.
Introduced April 2, 2026 by Tim Moore · Last progress April 2, 2026
Bars visas and admission to the United States for noncitizens who, as foreign government officials, were responsible for or directly carried out “particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” or who while outside the U.S. directed, authorized, significantly supported, participated in, were responsible for, or carried out such violations. It also requires the Department of State to publish the identities of persons found inadmissible under this rule on a public website, but gives the Secretary of State an unreviewable discretion to withhold names when disclosure would harm U.S. foreign policy. The change rewrites an existing immigration inadmissibility ground to rely explicitly on statutory definitions of religious persecution and adds a public-notice requirement with a broad foreign-policy exception. The bill does not set aside funding or a specific effective date in the text provided.