Trump Travel Ban: Tibet's Women Soccer Team Denied US Visas

Members of a Tibetan women’s soccer team who were scheduled to participate in a tournament in Texas next month were denied United States visas, BBC News reported Thursday. Cassie Childers, a coach and the executive director of the Tibet Women's Soccer, told the Associated Press that Tibetans usually struggle with getting U.S. visas due to fears they may request asylum there. However, Childers, who is a New Jersey native, rejected that notion, saying she was “ashamed” of her country for refusing to grant visas to a woman’s soccer team.

“There is no opportunity for them to defect, and the thought of shaming themselves, their team, and their country in that way sickens them,” Childers said.

Fourteen of the 16 team members who were denied travel to the U.S. were Tibetan refugees living in India, Childers said. Those 14 players held Indian Identity Certificates, which functions as Tibetan passports for refugees while also indicating that they are not Indian citizens. When Childers accompanied the India-based team members to the U.S. consulate in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 24 to be interviewed by U.S. border officials for the visas, Childers said they were told, “You have no reason to enter the U.S.”

Tibet, which Washington recognizes as a part of the People’s Republic of China, is not one of the seven countries listed on President Donald Trump’s previous travel ban. The country, which is 65 percent Buddhist, is commonly referred to as the “roof of the world” for having the Himalayas Mountains, which is the tallest mountain range in the world.

The Tibet's women’s soccer team, which was founded in 2011, was scheduled to compete in the 2017 Dallas Cup between April 9-16. Childers said the team, which is registered in New Jersey as a charity and an NGO in India, had organized with officials of the Dallas Cup to have their flight, lodgings, and sports equipment paid for.

The team participated in a tournament in Germany in 2015 without any problems getting a visa. Their upcoming visit to North Texas would have represented the first time any Tibetan team participated in an American soccer tournament, regardless of gender, Childers said.