The pressure affects foreign athletes in the US, travel and visa restrictions announced by Washington to expand control of their immigration policy left out of place during the month of April to several Latin American and African figures of sport that have contracts with franchises in the United States.
Since January 20, when Donald Trump assumed his second term as president of the United States, the Republican announced the retaken initiatives that restrict admission to the country from certain nations, revocate the legal status of immigrants and promote mass deportations.
The fears increased in mid -March when The New York Times published aspects of an alleged draft prepared by diplomatic and security officials that recommend prohibiting the trip to US territory to citizens from up to 43 countries.
It is a kind of radicalization of the restrictions imposed during Trump’s first mandate, between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2021, and in the list stand out, for example, Cuba, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Bután, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The Sursudan Central Khaman Maluach, a university basketball player, is barely 18 years old and already has plenty of reasons to fear the possibility of being deported or living with that ghost.
This is because on April 7 the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced that his country will revoke all the visas of the South Sudan Passport holders due to the refusal of the transition government to receive repatriation flights from undocumented.
Abstention in doubt
The fear of putting their contracts at risk and uncertainty about the future before such ads has put some figures, who prefer to remain in the US, their workplace.
And the most obvious reaction was seen at the beginning of April with the decision of some young Venezuelans and Zambianas that stand out in clubs of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) to decline the call to reinforce their selections in preparation matches.
«The uncertainty of being able to go home, but not knowing if I can return, is terrifying. Not only does it affect me, but many foreign players, ”explained the Venezuelan Deyna Castellanos, former leader of Atlético de Madrid, who joined Portland Thorns in January 2024 after spending a short stage in Manchester City.
The Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF) reported that another 3 players who militate in the NWSL were left out “for migratory reasons” of the friendlies with Panama on April 5 and 8 that resulted in 1-0 victory and 1-1 draw in Margarita.
This is Barbara Olivieri, front of the Houston Dash; Gabriela Angulo, from the University of Southern Alabama; and Mariánela Jiménez, who studies and plays with the University of Florida, where Castellanos formed, who on April 18 turned 26.
From the FVF, a source told Efe that no player has renounced the team, known as “Las Chamas”, which is run by Brazilian Ricardo Belli since February 19.
It should be noted that Venezuelans are also 11 players who have contracts with clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS).
Also at the beginning of April the Zambia Soccer Association (ZFA) dispensed with 4 players who form in US franchises for the China team, in which it lost with Thailand (2-3) and defeated Uzbekistan (3-4).
The former Spanish achievement player Barbra Banda, second most expensive reinforcement in the history of the NWSL upon arriving at the Pride, as well as her companions Grace Chanda and Prisca Chilufya, and the front of the Bay Racheal Kundanji Bay remained with their teams.
The general secretary of the ZFA, Reuben Kamanga, blamed the absences to “travel measures introduced by the new administration in the United States”, almost a tracing of the official explanation of the FVF by attributing the lack of four of its players to “personal decisions linked to migratory issues.”
False alarm?
Foreign athletes and foreign trainers of recognized trajectory who have contracts in the United States are covered by Visa P, which is issued at the request of a club or franchise with the condition that the beneficiary has verified their skills and after the recognition that provides their sports career.
No immigrant receives this type of visa, which allows the athlete to enter and leave the country and remain in it for the time stipulated from the signed contract.
With this specific visa, foreign players hired by major league teams have traveled abroad to meet special games of the season.
Of the 265 foreign players who have started the 2025 major league season, 94 are Venezuelans. 26 They were born in Cuba and 2 in Haiti, another of the countries whose nationals can be impacted if travel and visa restrictions announced by the White House are applied.
(With report by Hernán Bahos Ruiz, from EFE)
