Duke basketball star among South Sudanese who could be deported due to new Trump policy.
Khaman Maluach faced a loss in the Final Four tournament just hours after Marco Rubio said the U.S. will be revoking all visas of South Sudanese passport-holders.
After trailing for most of the game, the Houston Cougars clawed their way back in the final minutes to defeat Cooper Flagg and Duke. Houston will vie for a national title against Florida on Monday.
South Sudanese nationals, including Duke University men’s basketball star Khaman Maluach, face possible deportation after the Trump administration announced a new visa policy this past weekend.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that the U.S. will be revoking all visas of South Sudanese passport-holders because of the transitional government’s refusal to accept U.S. deportees from the country in a “timely manner.”
For Maluach, whose team lost in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament against the University of Houston just hours after the announcement, a future in the U.S. is now uncertain.
“It is time for the Transitional Government of South Sudan to stop taking advantage of the United States,” Rubio said in a statement.
Frank Tramble, vice president of communications, marketing and public affairs at Duke, said in a statement that the school is aware of the announcement from the State Department.
“We are looking into the situation and working expeditiously to understand any implications for Duke students,” Tramble said.
According to State Department travel data, 46 nonimmigrant visas were issued to South Sudanese nationals in January. It’s a smaller figure compared to some other East African countries to which the U.S. issued nonimmigrant visas numbering in the hundreds in that same month, such as Uganda and Tanzania. The sweeping visa ban, which also includes a pause on any further issuance of new visas, is effective immediately. Rubio said in the statement that the policy would be reviewed “when South Sudan is in full cooperation.”