The government introduced a citizenship form Monday that allows immigrants to select X as their gender, giving them a new option beyond male and female.
The Biden administration saw the move as a step toward inclusiveness for immigrants who feel they don’t fit cleanly into either of the two sexes.
Critics, including some former senior officials, said it is worrying wokeness that carries some risk of missing out on bad actors.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security agency that adjudicates legal immigration applications, is also rolling out new prices for legal immigration. It is shifting more of the burden of paying for the system to work-related applications while keeping fees in check for most other types of applications.
The new fees also push applicants to file forms online rather than by paper, offering significant discounts for those who choose the digital option.
The new citizenship form, known officially as the N-400 Application for Naturalization, offers the options of Male, Female and Another gender identity as checkboxes. Those who check the other box will receive documents that reflect their gender as X.
“Adding a third gender option helps ensure that secure identity documents and biographical data are accurate and helps both external stakeholders and individuals requesting immigration benefits,” the agency said. “It is also consistent with federal and state agencies that have adopted a third gender option, such as the U.S. Department of State’s expanded passport services to offer gender X in their application.”
USCIS said other forms will eventually add the option.
“This is a disaster waiting to happen,” said Matt O’Brien, who served as chief of the national security division at USCIS and is now research director at the Immigration Reform Law Institute. “It’s already hard enough to vet people who come from places that use non-Roman alphabets. This ‘update’ will now enable people with nefarious intentions to add another layer of complexity to the vetting process by obscuring their sex.”
He said that matters particularly in places where there are terrorism dangers and poor record-keeping, and officers will have to waste time tracking down birth certificates without knowing whether they’re searching for a male or female.
USCIS, in a response to questions from The Washington Times, insisted it could manage any issues.
“This does not change USCIS’ screening and vetting policies or procedures,” the agency said. “USCIS remains committed to the integrity of the immigration system and is maintaining key identity verification – such as biometrics submission and fraud prevention procedures.”
In its news release, the agency said those who filed applications before the new gender option was available can submit a request for a gender change.
Those who have already been naturalized and want their documents to reflect a new identity must wait for updates to other forms, which are still in the works as part of a broad push to expand gender identity options.
It began last year with new rules allowing people to submit documents with a “gender marker” that didn’t match what was on their supporting documents.
USCIS at the time said the changes were a response to complaints from the public about too many hurdles to prove a changed gender identity.
Ken Cuccinelli, who was acting director of USCIS and later served as acting deputy secretary at Homeland Security in the Trump administration, said the naturalization form change could interfere with how the government vets people.
“It is overwhelmingly radical, woke, political, virtue signaling, but it will make law enforcement more difficult with each individual,” Mr. Cuccinelli said.
Mr. O’Brien said the change is another sign of skewed priorities at USCIS.
“Vetting always seems to play second fiddle to completing applications in a ‘timely fashion,’” he said. “The true indicator of the timeline should be how long does it take for DHS to determine if an applicant can be considered reasonably unharmful to the American public.”
Several immigrant rights groups, including one that focuses on LGBTQ migrants, did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
The Biden administration attached the gender update to an overhaul of the immigration fee system, which had been in the works for years.
The new fees are particularly punishing to businesses seeking to bring in guest workers. Registering to bring in an H-1B skilled worker will cost $215, up from $10. Filing for an H-1B visa will now cost $780, or 70% more than it used to.
Costs for businesses applying for highly skilled O workers will rise 121% to $1,015.
The new fees also prod migrants to fill out and submit forms online rather than on paper. The government will charge a premium for those who prefer to file by paper.
The fee for naturalization and processing biometrics was $725. Under the new rules, filing by paper will cost $760, but those filing digitally will pay only $710.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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