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Illegal Alien Animal Abuser Removal Act of 2026
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that an alien convicted of an offense involving animal cruelty is inadmissible and deportable, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make aliens convicted of animal cruelty, animal abuse, or animal fighting ineligible for admission to the United States and deportable if already in the country. The bill applies to convictions under federal animal cruelty laws (sections 48 and 49 of title 18) as well as convictions under state, tribal, or local laws where animal cruelty, animal abuse, or animal fighting is an essential element of the offense, regardless of whether the offense is classified as a misdemeanor or felony. An alien convicted of such an offense would be deemed inadmissible and could be removed from the United States through deportation proceedings. The bill covers both aliens who have been formally convicted as well as those who admit to committing acts constituting animal cruelty or fighting.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] (R-SC)
Actions (2)
- Feb 12, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Feb 12, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 12, 2026
Ms. Mace introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that an alien convicted of an offense involving animal cruelty is inadmissible and deportable, and for other purposes.
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 “Illegal Alien Animal Abuser Removal Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. INADMISSIBILITY AND DEPORTABILITY RELATED TO ANIMAL CRUELTY.
(a) Inadmissibility.—Section 212(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(J) Animal cruelty and animal fighting.—Any alien who has been convicted of, who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts constituting the essential elements of—
“(i) an offense under sections 48 or 49 of title 18, United States Code; or
“(ii) an offense under State, Tribal, or local law, an essential element of which is animal cruelty, animal abuse, or animal fighting, regardless of whether such offense is classified as a misdemeanor or felony under State, Tribal, or local law, is inadmissible.”.
(b) Deportability.—Section 237(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(G) Animal cruelty and animal fighting.—Any alien who has been convicted of—
“(i) an offense under sections 48 or 49 of title 18, United States Code; or
“(ii) an offense under State, Tribal, or local law, an essential element of which is animal cruelty, animal abuse, or animal fighting, regardless of whether such offense is classified as a misdemeanor or felony under State, Tribal, or local law, is deportable.”. <all>
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