The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers introduced on Monday that it has up to date its immigration coverage to limit visa eligibility for transgender girls in search of to compete in girls’s sports activities.
Underneath the coverage replace, USCIS will take into account “the truth that a male athlete has been competing towards girls” as a unfavorable issue when evaluating visa petitions in classes comparable to O-1A for extraordinary skill, EB-1 and EB-2 inexperienced playing cards for extremely expert staff, and nationwide curiosity waivers.
“USCIS is closing the loophole for international male athletes whose solely probability at successful elite sports activities is to alter their gender id and leverage their organic benefits towards girls,” mentioned USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser.
“It is a matter of security, equity, respect, and reality that solely feminine athletes obtain a visa to come back to the U.S. to take part in girls’s sports activities.”
The transfer aligns with broader efforts by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to control transgender participation in athletics and follows comparable insurance policies enacted on the state degree throughout the nation.
America Olympic & Paralympic Committee final month up to date its coverage to align with an government order signed earlier this yr by Trump barring transgender girls from competing in girls’s sports activities.
Trump signed the “Holding Males Out of Ladies’s Sports activities” order in February, a directive that supporters mentioned will restore equity however critics argue it infringes on the rights of a tiny minority of athletes. —Reuters
