HR 3965: PEARL Act

HR 3965 in plain English: The PEARL Act would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to create a pilot program that adopts dogs from local animal shelters and trains them as support dogs for CBP personnel. These dogs would be used to help with grief assistance, trauma mitigation, and morale.

Stated purpose

To require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to create a pilot program that adopts dogs from local animal shelters and trains them as support dogs to help CBP personnel with grief, trauma, and morale.

Key points

• Requires CBP to establish a pilot program adopting shelter dogs for its Support Canine Program
• Trained support dogs would assist CBP personnel with grief, trauma, and morale

Arguments supporters make

• CBP personnel face high-stress, dangerous work including exposure to trauma and loss, and trained support dogs are a proven, non-pharmaceutical way to help with mental health and morale.
• The program benefits two problems at once — supporting federal workers AND giving shelter dogs a second chance — at relatively low cost compared to other government programs.
• A three-year pilot structure limits risk by letting the government test whether the approach works before making any long-term commitment.

Arguments opponents make

• The bill does not include funding details or cost estimates, leaving questions about whether taxpayer resources are being used efficiently or whether the program duplicates existing CBP support services.
• A mandated 60-day startup deadline may be too tight for a federal agency to responsibly design, staff, and launch a new training program without cutting corners.
• Critics may argue that shelter dog adoptions, while well-intentioned, could result in dogs that are not temperamentally suited for support roles, raising concerns about program effectiveness and animal welfare.

Tradeoffs

The program may provide meaningful mental health support for federal workers and help shelter animals, but it also places a new administrative and possible financial burden on CBP with a strict timeline and no funding mechanism specified in the bill.

Current status in Congress: Passed House.

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