Status: 🔴 U.S. federal department (2003– ) that, under Secretary Kristi Noem (2025–2026), implemented Executive Order 14168 across its components — barring transgender TSA officers from pat-downs, rolling back transgender care in immigration detention, and revoking the “X” gender marker at USCIS.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a U.S. federal department created in 2003 to consolidate agencies responsible for border protection, aviation security, immigration enforcement, and emergency management. Under Noem, it became the lead implementer of Executive Order 14168 within the federal government.
On February 7, 2025, Noem issued a department-wide message directing implementation of Executive Order 14168, signed by Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, which requires the federal government to recognize only two sexes and to eliminate “gender identity” from federal policy.
The Transportation Security Administration barred transgender officers from performing pat-downs consistent with their gender identity and from using restrooms matching their gender, rescinded its transgender screening directive (MD 900.3), ended recognition of Pride Month, banned “X” gender markers and pronouns, removed gender identity from its anti-harassment protections, and deleted its “Transgender Travelers” guidance page.
ICE stopped screening and recording gender identity, rescinded the 2015 Transgender Care Memorandum issued under Tom Homan, replaced “gender” with “sex” in detention standards, and stopped reporting data on transgender detainees.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Policy Alert PA-2025-04 on April 2, 2025, revoking the “X” gender marker, recognizing only two sexes, and removing gender-marker change procedures.
In October 2025, the department required airlines to disregard “X” passport markers and enter “M” or “F” for every passenger in airline security screening systems.
DHS intelligence analysts stopped using “transgender” as a category, reporting on “LGB+” communities instead — even in threat assessments about Pride Month — and the department loosened restrictions on surveillance based on sexual orientation.