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Part of: Racism, Immigration, and Minority Caucuses · January 6 & the Trump Relationship

Dispatch

"If you import the third world, you will become the third world": Mace's Third World Immigration Moratorium Act

On July 15, 2026, four days after Lindsey Graham's death and as she weighs a run for his Senate seat, Nancy Mace introduced the Third World Immigration Moratorium Act, a bill that would bar entry of aliens from 39 designated countries plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, codifying President Trump's travel-ban proclamation into permanent statute. Her press release framed it as moving to 'slam the door,' and her own words went further: 'If you import the third world, you will become the third world.' This dispatch catalogs the bill, the full country list, its exceptions, and Mace's verbatim statements from her office's announcement.

On July 15, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace introduced the Third World Immigration Moratorium Act. Her office announced it under the headline "Rep. Nancy Mace Introduces Bill to Slam the Door on Third World Countries Endangering American Communities."

In her own words in that release:

"The American people are done playing games and so are we. For too long, Washington has looked the other way while bad actors exploited every gap in our system and American families paid the price. Those days are over. If you import the third world, you will become the third world. This bill makes crystal clear: entry into the United States is a privilege, not a right. We make absolutely no apologies for defending it."

And, later in the same announcement:

"We are not a dumping ground for the third world's problems. This bill is a straightforward solution to keep dangerous aliens out and send a message to every country on this list: the free ride is over."

What the bill would do

Per Mace's office, the legislation prohibits entry of aliens from 39 countries, a list her release says "align[s] directly with President Trump's Proclamation, Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States," plus holders of travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. The designated countries are:

Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The release justifies the list by asserting that "many of these nations have repeatedly refused to cooperate with U.S. deportation orders, failed to provide basic vetting information on their own citizens," and characterizing many as "state sponsors of terror, hostile regimes, and failed states."

Exceptions. The bill, as described by Mace's office, preserves carve-outs for lawful permanent residents; dual nationals from non-designated countries; diplomatic and NATO treaty personnel; athletes competing in the World Cup, Olympics, or other major international sporting events; special immigrant visa holders, including those who served alongside U.S. forces; and individuals fleeing documented ethnic and religious persecution in Iran. The Secretary of Homeland Security keeps discretionary waiver authority "when entry serves a verified critical national interest."

Review. It would require the Secretary of State, with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to report to Congress every 180 days on whether the prohibitions "should be continued, modified, or expanded."

In effect, the bill would take President Trump's existing travel-ban proclamation, which rests on executive authority, and write it into federal statute, making it harder for a future administration to lift by executive action alone.

The timing

Mace introduced the bill four days after Sen. Lindsey Graham's death and while she is publicly weighing a run for his Senate seat, with a special Republican primary set for August 11 and a field of candidates forming around her. Immigration hardlining is standard positioning in a Republican primary; the bill puts a high-visibility, Trump-aligned marker on the record during that window. Maceopedia notes the timing without ascribing motive; the bill and its language stand on their own.

This dispatch catalogs a public legislative action and reproduces Rep. Mace's own statements from her official press release. The characterizations of the listed countries are Mace's office's, quoted as such; nothing here is Maceopedia's own assessment of any nation or its people. The bill was introduced July 15, 2026; a Congress.gov bill number was not yet assigned at the time of writing.

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