Banning Perpetrators of Religious Persecution Act of 2026

119 S3679 IS: Banning Perpetrators of Religious Persecution Act of 2026 U.S. Senate 2026-01-15 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. II 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3679 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES January 15, 2026 Mr. Budd (for himself, Mrs. Blackburn , Mrs. Moody , Mr. Cotton , Mr. Banks , Mr. Kennedy , Mr. Lankford , and Mr. Cruz ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Banning Perpetrators of Religious Persecution Act of 2026 . 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. .