(Reuters) .- The United States citizenship and immigration service announced on Monday that it has updated its immigration policy to restrict the concession of visas to transsexual women who want to compete in women’s sports.
Under the policy update, the USCIS will consider “the fact that a male athlete has been competing against women” as a negative factor in evaluating visa requests in categories such as O-1A for extraordinary skills, green cards EB-1 and EB-2 for highly qualified workers and exemptions of national interest.
Lee: US Olympic Committee prohibits Trans Women Compete in women’s sports
“USCIS is closing the Legal Lagoon for foreign male athletes whose only opportunity to gain elite sports is to change their gender identity and take advantage of their biological advantages against women,” said USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser.
“It is a matter of security, justice, respect and truth that only women athletes receive a visa to come to the US to participate in women’s sports.”
The measure is aligned with efforts of the Donald Trump government to regulate transgender participation in athletics and follow similar policies promulgated at the state level throughout the country.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee updated its policy last month to align it with a decree signed earlier this year by Trump that prohibits transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
Trump signed in February a directive that, according to his supporters, will restore equity, but that, according to critics, violates the rights of a small athlete minority.
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