Sponsors (20)
The bill strengthens legal tools to protect law-enforcement animals and clarifies DHS authority—potentially improving officer safety and deterring attacks—but does so by expanding deportable offenses, increasing risk of harsh immigration consequences for noncitizens and raising enforcement costs.
Law-enforcement officers and their animal partners (e.g., K-9s, mounted units) gain stronger protection because attacks on those animals are made deportable offenses, which may improve officer safety and operational continuity.
The Department of Homeland Security and immigration authorities receive clearer statutory authority to deny admission or pursue removal in cases involving assaults on law-enforcement animals, clarifying enforcement responsibility.
Immigrants convicted of harming law-enforcement animals can be barred from entry or removed, which could deter attacks on K-9s and mounted units.
Noncitizens (including lawful residents and visa applicants) may face denial of entry or removal based on admissions or pleas related to these offenses even when there are mitigating circumstances, increasing risks of harsh immigration consequences.
The expansion of grounds for removal could increase immigration enforcement caseloads and costs for DHS and immigration courts, potentially diverting resources from other priorities.
Lawful residents and families with remote or minor past admissions could suffer collateral economic and stability harms (e.g., job loss, family separation) if those admissions become removal triggers.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Makes noncitizens convicted of, or admitting to, harming animals used in law enforcement inadmissible and removable under U.S. immigration law.
Makes noncitizens inadmissible to the United States and removable from the United States if they have been convicted of, admit to committing, or admit acts that constitute the essential elements of the federal offense that prohibits harming animals used in law enforcement. The change adds specific grounds in the immigration laws tying convictions and admissions related to that federal animal-protection offense to both inadmissibility and deportability. Applies to convictions and admissions that correspond to the federal statute criminalizing harm to animals used in law enforcement; it does not itself change criminal penalties or create new funding.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Ken Calvert · Last progress March 19, 2026