Donald Trump to sign order creating Olympics task force ahead of 2028 Games
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Members of LA28, local government officials and US Olympic athletes posing with the official Olympic flag.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to create a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Mr Trump’s Cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said in an e-mail.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media”.
The Department of Homeland Security has classified the Games as a national special security event, a designation given to high-profile events to coordinate security plans with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service and other federal agencies, according to the New York Times.
It was unclear how closely the task force will work with local officials in Los Angeles, a city led by Democrats. The Trump administration has had a strained relationship with leaders across Southern California, which has been the target of widespread immigration raids that began in June.
Planning for the Olympics comes as Los Angeles faces a budget crisis worsened by two devastating wildfires in January that destroyed thousands of homes in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Organising the Olympics in any city is a massive undertaking that involves preparing for thousands of athletes and tourists, but LA officials have said they are confident the Games will be a success.
In a statement on Aug 4, Casey Wasserman, chairman of the Los Angeles Olympics organising committee, thanked Mr Trump and his administration for their “leadership and unwavering support” ahead of the Games.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The President considers it a great honour to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Aug 4.
Mr Trump has been an enthusiastic booster for major international sporting events in the US under his watch, boasting about both the Olympics and football’s 2026 World Cup.
“I got the World Cup and I have the Olympics and I did it,” Mr Trump said at an event in Iowa in July.
Mr Trump tapped a similar task force earlier in 2025 for the World Cup that will be hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico in 2026, appointing Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani – one of the president’s staunchest allies – to be its director.
That task force was established to coordinate departments and agencies across the federal government to assist in organising and carrying out the World Cup and the Club World Cup, a separate tournament held earlier in 2025.
The Games will mark the first time an American city has hosted the Summer Olympics since Atlanta did in 1996. A deadly pipe bomb exploded during the Games at Centennial Olympic Park and injured many.
Los Angeles had previously hosted the Games in 1932 and 1984. The 2028 Olympics will be held at venues across Southern California and in Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Aug 4 it has updated its immigration policy to restrict visa eligibility for transgender women seeking to compete in women’s sports.
Under the policy update, USCIS will consider “the fact that a male athlete has been competing against women” as a negative factor when evaluating visa petitions in categories such as O-1A for extraordinary ability, EB-1 and EB-2 green cards for highly skilled workers, and national interest waivers.
“USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women,” said its spokesperson Matthew Tragesser.
“It’s a matter of safety, fairness, respect, and truth that only female athletes receive a visa to come to the US to participate in women’s sports.”
The move aligns with broader efforts by the Trump administration to regulate transgender participation in athletics and follows similar policies enacted at the state level across the country. BLOOMBERG,
REUTERS,
