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.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.
For many basketball fans, the news came as a shock as Maluach has been poised to be a first-round pick in the NBA draft in June. Maluach, a freshman center, shined during March Madness, recording double figures in the Sweet Sixteen game against University of Arizona and the Elite Eight game against the University of Alabama, before his team exited the tournament after losing the semifinals.
Maluach, who represented South Sudan at the Olympics last year, said that his journey to the prestigious Blue Devils basketball program has been shocking, even to him.
“It never really crossed my mind that one day I’ll be playing for Duke,” Maluach told NBC News last week. “I didn’t know I was going to go to college,” much less “be able to play in a Final Four.”
The visa news comes as tensions have been growing in South Sudan, which could be headed for another civil war. A 2018 power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar ended five years of civil war. But as of last month, violent clashes between the factions have ramped up once again.
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