Sponsors (5)
The bill increases national‑security screening and creates clearer designation and enforcement rules to reduce perceived risks from certain countries, but does so at the cost of restricting travel and asylum options for people from designated countries, imposing economic and administrative burdens, and reducing flexibility and some legal protections.
Taxpayers and border communities: noncitizens from designated high-risk countries face entry bans and enhanced pre‑entry vetting, which the bill aims to reduce security risks to the public.
Federal agencies, travelers, and applicants: the bill standardizes designation criteria, clarifies statutory terms, and creates deadlines and explicit enforcement authority, providing legal clarity and predictability for screening and removals.
Taxpayers, Congress, and the public: the Secretary must publish country designations, rationale, and annual reports (with optional classified annexes), improving transparency and congressional oversight while protecting sensitive intelligence.
Immigrants, asylum‑seekers, and families: nationals or recent residents of designated countries could face travel bans, visa denials, separation from family, reduced access to asylum, and greater difficulty obtaining humanitarian relief.
Federal agencies, consulates, and taxpayers: the bill will increase administrative workload and costs for DHS, State, consular posts, and immigration courts (verification, consultations, removals), potentially slowing other processing and raising program costs.
Students, universities, small businesses, and families with ties abroad: tighter vetting and entry bans could reduce international student enrollments, workforce participation, trade, travel, and remittances, creating economic uncertainty and losses.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Bars admission of nationals or recent residents of countries designated as unable to reliably verify identities, with limited exceptions and a discretionary humanitarian waiver.
Introduced March 17, 2026 by Andy Ogles · Last progress March 17, 2026
Bars admission to the United States of aliens who are nationals of, or who lived in, countries the Secretary of State designates as unable to provide reliable identity verification or information sharing, with a set of statutory exceptions and a discretionary humanitarian waiver. It requires interagency consultation to create the list, annual reviews and public notice of changes, enhanced vetting procedures for exceptions, enforcement penalties for violations, and gives agencies set timelines for implementation.