DHS to refuse entry to transgender male athletes seeking to compete in women’s sports

The Department of Homeland Security has entered the gender war, announcing Monday it will refuse to issue visas to biologically male foreign athletes who seek to compete in the U.S. as women.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it was carrying out President Trump’s executive order demanding that government agencies pursue policies to keep “men out of women’s sports.” The goal, the agency said, is to “guarantee an even playing field” for women.

Under the policy, foreign male athletes who have competed in women’s sports can be barred.

“Men do not belong in women’s sports,” said Matthew Tragesser, an agency spokesperson. “It’s a matter of safety, fairness, respect and truth that only female athletes receive a visa to come to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports.”

USCIS said the policy will apply to those seeking O-1A, E11 and E21 visas, which welcome foreigners who have exceptional or extraordinary ability in an area, and foreigners seeking national interest waivers to skip over job certification requirements.

The agency said a male athlete competing in a women’s sport shouldn’t qualify as an exceptional case deserving of a visa. That athlete also doesn’t demonstrate an extraordinary ability that would qualify for the national interest waiver.

“USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women,” Mr. Tragesser said.

It’s not clear how many people the policy would affect.

The next Summer Olympics are scheduled for Los Angeles in 2028. The Games have been riven with questions about transgender athletes in recent years.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee last month adopted a ban on transgender women competing in women’s events, replacing a policy that left decisions to each sport’s controlling body.

Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project, said it was a no-brainer for USCIS to adopt the change.

“The president has an executive order on this. It should not be surprising to anyone that USCIS would announce that policy,” she said. “I think probably 80% of the American people agree with it.”

Mr. Trump has ordered the government as a whole to redirect its efforts away from special consideration for transgender people, particularly those born male but who now identify as female.

He specifically ordered the State and Homeland Security departments to restrict admission of “males seeking to participate in women’s sports.”

The State Department moved on the order in February, allowing its officers to deny visas if there was a “reasonable suspicion” that an applicant’s listed sex didn’t match the sex at birth. That policy appears to apply beyond athletes.

The State Department also has attempted to block a nonbinary marker on passports.

A federal judge issued a blockade on that move.

Homeland Security officials complained last month that the department was forced to release an illegal immigrant who was born male but now identifies as a female after a judge objected to the migrant being held in a men’s detention facility.

Judge Amy Baggio, a Biden appointee to the court in Oregon, issued a ruling finding that the migrant, identified in court documents by the initials O.J.M., was being held in violation of her procedural due process rights.