How the military is dealing with Hegseth’s order to remove transgender troops
U.S. Law Review
The military services scrambled Friday to nail down details and put together new guidance to start removing transgender troops from the force.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a memo released late Thursday, reinstated orders issued earlier this year that said “expressing a false gender identity divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
His new order gives active duty troops until June 6 to identify themselves as transgender and voluntarily begin to leave the service. National Guard and Reserve troops have until July 7.
Army Maj. Alivia Stehlik, who served in the infantry and is now a physical therapist, will be eligible to retire in three years but doesn’t want to be forced out for being a transgender service member.
“I still have a job to do,” she said. “My command expects me to show up and be an officer and do my job because I’m the only person at my unit who can do what I do.”
The military services were rushing to put out new guidance to help commanders work through the process, including what to do in more complex situations, such as if any of the troops are deployed, at sea or may require special orders or funding to meet the deadlines.
In 2015, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter broached the idea of lifting the ban on transgender troops and allowing them to serve openly, which raised concerns among military leaders. He set up a study, and in June 2016 announced the ban was over.
Reinstating that ban has long been a goal for President Donald Trump.
Six months into his first term, Trump announced he was not going to allow transgender people to serve in the military “in any capacity.” That set off a roughly two-year struggle to hammer out the complex details of how that would work, even as legal challenges poured in.
The Pentagon eventually laid out a policy that allowed those currently serving to stay and continue with plans for hormone treatments and gender transition if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. But it barred new enlistments of anyone with gender dysphoria who was taking hormones or had transitioned to another gender.
Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity.
That ban was overturned by then-President Joe Biden. When Trump took office again this year, he directed Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops.
In late February, Pentagon leaders ordered the services to set up procedures to identify troops diagnosed with or being treated for gender dysphoria by March 26. And it gave them 30 days to begin removing those troops from service.
A flurry of lawsuits stalled the ban. But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration could enforce the ban, while other legal challenges proceed.
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USCIS Adjusting Premium Processing Fee
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today it is adjusting the premium processing fee for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers beginning on Oct. 1, 2018 to more effectively adjudicate petitions and maintain effective service to petitioners.
The premium processing fee will increase to $1,410, a 14.92 percent increase (after rounding) from the current fee of $1,225. This increase, which is done in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, represents the percentage change in inflation since the fee was last increased in 2010 based on the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers.
“Because premium processing fees have not been adjusted since 2010, our ability to improve the adjudications and service processes for all petitioners has been hindered as we’ve experienced significantly higher demand for immigration benefits. Ultimately, adjusting the premium processing fee will allow us to continue making necessary investments in staff and technology to administer various immigration benefit requests more effectively and efficiently,” said Chief Financial Officer Joseph Moore. “USCIS will continue adjudicating all petitions on a case-by-case basis to determine if they meet all standards required under applicable law, policies, and regulations.”
Premium processing is an optional service that is currently authorized for certain petitioners filing Forms I-129 or I-140. The system allows petitioners to request 15-day processing of certain employment-based immigration benefit requests if they pay an extra fee. The premium processing fee is paid in addition to the base filing fee and any other applicable fees, which cannot be waived.