Homeland Security’s citizenship agency on Wednesday said it removed its “another gender” option from immigration forms, reversing a Biden policy and once again leaving applicants to pick between “male” and “female.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it was carrying out President Trump’s executive orders and returning to its own traditional practice, which until the Biden change last year had recognized only two sexes.
“There are only two sexes — male and female,” said Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at Homeland Security, who said the new policy is a recognition of “simple biological reality.”
“Proper management of our immigration system is a matter of national security, not a place to promote and coddle an ideology that permanently harms children and robs real women of their dignity, safety and well-being,” Ms. McLaughlin said.
The move comes almost a year to the day after the Biden administration added an “X” option to the sex section of USCIS forms. That, the agency said, meant the applicant adhered to “another gender identity” beyond male or female.
The agency at the time said the lack of a nonbinary choice created “significant barriers” to some applicants, forcing them to take additional steps and submit extra documentation if their gender identity wasn’t clear and consistent from birth.
On Wednesday, the agency said that policy undermined the need for “a meaningful and useful basis for identification.”
For starters, the agency has canceled the use of the term “gender” in its policy manual and replaced it with “sex.”
Under the new policy, USCIS will consider a person’s sex to be what was listed on his or her original birth certificate. There must be a male or female selection on USCIS documents. If an indication is missing, the agency will look to “secondary evidence” to figure out how to list someone’s gender.
USCIS said it wouldn’t deny people just because they fail to check “M” or “F” on the forms or check a box that’s not consistent with their original birth certificate.
The agency’s new guidance reads: “Certain USCIS applications, petitions, and requests require a benefit requestor to indicate his or her sex. In these cases, a benefit requestor must provide his or her biological sex as generally evidenced on his or her birth certificate issued at the time of birth or issued closest to the time of birth. Sex is not ‘gender identity.’”
The update was prompted by Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order on “restoring biological truth to the federal government.”
That order also affected the issuance of passports to U.S. citizens.
The State Department said in February it would no longer allow an “X” marker for sex, and will instead use male or female based on biological sex at birth.
Passports already issued with an “X” remain valid until their expiration dates, the department said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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