The Trump administration’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has ended the Biden administration’s policy of offering a third gender option, “X,” on immigration forms.
In response to President Donald Trump’s executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” the USCIS has affirmed that there are only two sexes: male and female.
USCIS is updating policy to clarify that we only recognize two biological sexes, male and female, consistent with the executive order on Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.
Learn more: https://t.co/HLB421VJ1K— USCIS (@USCIS) April 2, 2025
For all of U.S. history, those who apply to become immigrants to the U.S. have had two choices on their immigration forms: male or female. However, the Biden administration’s USCIS added a third option in April 2024, a gender identity marker of just the letter “X,” which serves no legitimate purpose and just makes it more difficult to identify a person.
U.S. Citizenship Services just introduced a third gender to its immigration forms: pic.twitter.com/vkrr9llv4P
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 1, 2024
On April 2, USCIS announced that it would be revoking the policy “Effective immediately” and would be “returning to its historical policy of recognizing two sexes to ensure that the information USCIS collects in this category provides a meaningful and useful basis for identification,” according to a document shared with The Daily Wire.
“An applicant’s sex, like their date of birth, is part of their identity and USCIS uses identity to create secure documents, as well as for screening and vetting. USCIS also shares identity-based data with other agencies of the U.S. government, and data fields such as sex must follow standards for such data sharing to function properly,” the document continues.
🚨JUST IN🚨
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating its USCIS Policy Manual to only recognizes two biological sexes, male and female.
“There are only two sexes — male and female. President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense, and… pic.twitter.com/L2HSKbY2yy
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) April 2, 2025
This policy reversal will have an effect on numerous issues handled by the USCIS, including green cards, employment authorization documents, certificates of naturalization, and much more, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official.
“There are only two sexes — male and female,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noted in a statement to The Daily Wire.
“President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense, and that includes making sure that the policy of the U.S. government agrees with simple biological reality,” she added. “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.”
The new guidance orders USCIS to only consider the person’s sex that is listed on their birth certificate at the time of birth or near the time of birth. If the person’s so-called “gender identity” conflicts with their actual sex listed on their birth certificate, the USCIS will only consider the birth certificate.
The guidance also orders that all uses of the term “gender” be replaced with the word “sex” in the USCIS Policy Manual, and also removes language from the manual’s appendix about gender identity.
