Tibetan women's soccer players denied US visas for Texas tournament

[Equinox Moon]

Source: The Guardian

Fifteen players of a Tibetan womens soccer team have been refused US visas as guests of a Texas tournament, raising questions about what policy Donald Trump will take toward the contested region.

The team, Tibet Womens Soccer, had planned to take part in this springs Dallas Cup tournament for young players, and was invited by organizers to stay with local players in the tradition of several previous diversity programs, including a Catholic-Protestant team from Ireland and a Muslim-Jewish team from Israel.

On Friday, however, the players were told by US embassy officials in Delhi that they did not merit permission to take the 10-day trip.

What they said is we dont have strong reasons to go to Dallas, said Jamyang Chotso, a team captain. But I think this is not the reason for them to reject us. We think the reason is they think we might run away when we reach there.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/28/tibet-womens-soccer-visas-denied

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What the hell is going on?!

[Ford_Prefect]

1. Stupid is as Stupid does, Mr. Miller and Mr. Bannon.

[napi21]

2. Yesterday TSA at Houston TX airport nabbed a Professor from England I think, because of his name.

He was scheduled to spek at a seminar at the Houston Univ. They were preparing to send he back to England when some attorney's from the Univ. came to the airport and got him released. After he was back in England, he posted on Facebook "The USA is not the US anymore.

The Con has instructed ICE, the TSA, and who knows how many other Depts. to turn into tyrants!

[Leghorn21]

5. Henry Rousso

Leading French academic threatened with deportation at Houston airport

Henry Rousso was due to take part in a symposium at Texas A&M University

Ten-hour ordeal highlights ‘total arbitrariness and incompetence’

Tom Dart in Houston
Sunday 26 February 2017 14.54 EST Last modified on Sunday 26 February 2017 17.58 EST

A prominent French historian has said he was detained for more than 10 hours in Houston and threatened with deportation, in the latest of several examples of high-profile individuals being questioned extensively at US airports before being allowed entry.

Henry Rousso flew from Paris to Houston last Wednesday to take part in a symposium at Texas A&M University but was wrongly detained and almost sent back to France after a border guard failed to understand Rousso’s entitlements under visa rules, university officials said.

Rousso said on Twitter that he was “detained 10 hours at [Houston’s George Bush intercontinental airport] about to be deported. The officer who arrested me was ‘inexperienced’.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/26/henry-rousso-french-academic-deportation-houston-airport

[Rex]

3. Just a few simple steps.

It is only a matter of time before the Reds come for the authorized folks. They don't seem to care about trial balloons and are going full bore dictatorship.

Yeah Tibet! Center of terrorism!

[yuiyoshida]

4. Well of course, they are Buddhist Terrorists...

and would only end up destroying American values... and we are pretty sure Alex Jones has some file on them some where about how bad they truly are...



Fuck Republicans!

[groundloop]

6. Buddhist, Muslim..... same difference - they're different than most of us

What the fuck is wrong with.... oh hell with it, I already know what the fuck is wrong. Every day... EVERY FUCKING DAY we see more and more examples of moronic bullshit thanks to 45*.

[yuiyoshida]

7. You said they are different than "most of us" ... I would not be in that catagory

My family are Buddhists. We are a minority in this country. A tiny Minority who will no doubt be next on the list, once they have dealt with the Muslims.

[luvMIdog]

9. It's scary and sickening

My Muslim friend told me she went shopping at the grocery store and was reaching for a packaged rotisserie chicken in the deli window to put in her basket when the woman behind the deli counter snatched it away and all the rest of the packaged rotisserie chicken and moved them to a shelf away from the customer reach in and then just stood there glaring at her.

This shit is so damn sad and horrible.

[dhill926]

8. goddammit...fuck this shit!

enough.....this country is rapidly slipping out of control. Fascist fucks...

[Doreen]

10. I was wondering how long it was going to be before I was going

to have to worry about my rights and safety for being a Buddhist. Looks like time is up.

[melm00se]

11. must issue/shall issue

This is what happens when you leave the issuance of documentation to the sole discretion of an individual.

there should be clear and objective measurements for issuance and if you meet them you get approval, you don't meet them, you don't.

Not: "I don't like you looks" or "my gut says...".

[metalbot]

12. I'm not sure they would have been granted visas under a different administration

US immigration policies (which completely predate Trump) basically require embassy officials to assume that potential visitors will overstay unless a compelling reason can be found for why they would return to their home country. The other two diversity programs both came from first world countries, one of which is part of our visa waiver program. I suspect that a women's soccer team from any other country would face the same hurdles. Established national teams can usually get around this, but from the article it appears that this is more of a "soccer club" than a competitive team.

Trump is terrible, and his policies are terrible, but there are also aspects to our long standing immigration policies that have been terrible for a long time.