House Homeland Security panel advances bill to create CBP support-canine pilot using shelter dogs
Loading...
Summary
The House Homeland Security Committee favorably reported HR 3965, the “Pearl Act,” to establish a multi-year pilot for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to adopt and train shelter dogs as support canines to assist frontline personnel.
The House Committee on Homeland Security voted to report favorably HR 3965, the Providing Emotional Assistance with Relief and Love or Pearl Act, which would authorize a three-year pilot for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to adopt dogs from local animal shelters and train them as support canines for frontline personnel.
Representative Tony Gonzales, sponsor of the bill, told the committee the pilot is designed to expand CBP’s existing support-canine program and provide “second opportunities for our many canines at local animal shelters.” Gonzales said CBP personnel have faced serious mental-health pressures, noting committee testimony that “there have been at least 150 deaths by suicide from 2007 to 2022” and citing a 2023 Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General finding that CBP and ICE personnel “felt overworked and unable to perform their primary law enforcement duties.”
The bill would establish a three-year pilot in CBP to acquire and train shelter dogs for support roles and to assess program effects on handler morale and operational performance. Representative Correa, ranking member on the border security subcommittee and a co-lead on the measure, said the legislation “invests in common sense initiatives to support mental health and resilience of our federal workforce.”
Committee members said support canines can help facilitate conversations about stressful incidents and improve morale. The committee recorded the question on reporting the bill favorably by voice vote; the chair stated “the ayes have it” and the motion was agreed to. The committee also laid the motion to reconsider on the table.
The bill text directs CBP to design and implement the pilot and to report back to Congress; committee debate described the pilot as lasting three years and intended to expand support-canine coverage across border patrol sectors, but the bill specifies program details would be developed by CBP if enacted. No recorded roll-call vote was taken in committee; proponents urged House floor consideration.
Supporters said the measure pairs workforce wellbeing goals with expanded use of shelter adoptions; opponents did not offer recorded objections during markup. If enacted, the bill would create a limited CBP pilot and require agency reporting on outcomes, but it does not itself appropriate funding.
