State Dept. Permanently Bans Trans Athletes from Entering U.S.
Trans athletes seeking to travel to the U.S. for women's sporting events will be permanently forbidden from entering the country.
The U.S. State Department has ordered officials worldwide to deny visas to transgender athletes attempting to come to the U.S. for sports competitions.
It is also ordering permanent visa bans against transgender people whose gender marker on their application doesn’t match their assigned sex at birth.
A State Department cable obtained by The Guardian instructs visa officers to enforce a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the United States to refuse entry to any visa applicant who commits identity fraud or misrepresents who they are.
Unlike regular visa denials, anyone violating that section can be permanently refused entry to the United States, effectively constituting a lifelong ban.
“In cases where applicants are suspected of misrepresenting their purpose of travel or sex, you should consider whether this misrepresentation is material such that it supports an ineligibility finding,” the directive from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reads.
The directive comes in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
While signing the order, Trump directed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to deny visas to “men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes” during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Trump also pledged that Rubio would tell the International Olympic Committee that America “will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes.”
Transgender athletes are already a rare occurrence due to the small percentage of the population that they comprise globally. Beyond that, it’s unclear how many transgender athletes will attempt to compete in the 2028 Olympics.
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard was the first out transgender athlete at the Tokyo Games in 2021 but did not come close to competing for a medal despite her alleged physical advantage due to her assigned sex at birth.
In 2024, American runner Nikki Hiltz, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary but was assigned female at birth, competed at the Paris Olympics, finishing seventh in the women’s 1500-meter race.
A little more than a dozen intersex individuals and those with disorders of sex development (DSD) have previously competed in the Olympics throughout its history. Many of those individuals, particularly those with external female genitalia, have been barred from competing in women’s events. There is no required genetic testing or restrictions for intersex athletes competing in male events.
The State Department’s directive would also apply to transgender competitors in women’s sports leagues, such as the Women’s National Basketball Association or the National Women’s Soccer League, or future competitors in World Cup competitions hosted in the United States.
Under the order, consular officers are to examine the original birth certificates of visa applicants whose sex on their birth certificate does not match the sex on their visa application and mark all cases with “SWS25” to ensure enforcement of the ban on transgender athletes.
The State Department cable also mentions separate forthcoming guidance from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that will outline additional actions to “preclude biologically male athletes from participating in women’s sporting events, including sports exchanges in the United States.”
Sarah Mehta, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Guardian that the State Department’s use of the permanent fraud provision is an “unprecedented” expansion of immigration law that targets a specific identity group, unfairly likening transgender individuals to hardened international criminals.
“It’s normal to say that people accused of fraud or misrepresentation are often considered to be ineligible,” Mehta said. “It’s usually a case-by-case determination. But it is quite bizarre and novel in a terrible way to be saying it’s based on their misrepresenting their sex or gender in order to come and participate in an event in the United States.”
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