  We present a search for high-energy $\gamma$-ray emission from 566 Active
Galactic Nuclei at redshift $z > 0.2$, from the 2WHSP catalog of
high-synchrotron peaked BL Lac objects with eight years of Fermi-LAT data. We
focus on a redshift range where electromagnetic cascade emission induced by
ultra-high-energy cosmic rays can be distinguished from leptonic emission based
on the spectral properties of the sources. Our analysis leads to the detection
of 160 sources above $\approx$ $5\sigma$ (TS $\geq 25$) in the 1 - 300 GeV
energy range. By discriminating significant sources based on their $\gamma$-ray
fluxes, variability properties, and photon index in the Fermi-LAT energy range,
and modeling the expected hadronic signal in the TeV regime, we select a list
of promising sources as potential candidate ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray
emitters for follow-up observations by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov
Telescopes.
