Venezuelan Baseball Team denied entry into US

SimplyMe · Friday at 1:34 PM

They had qualified to play in the Senior League (ages 13-16) Baseball World Series and now will be replaced by a team from Mexico, who finished as runner up to the Venezuelans. The denial is based on Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and Executive Order that prevents people from Venezuela (and other countries) from entering the US; as Venezuelans are, per Trump's comments, terrorists and enemies to the US.

Nithavela · Friday at 1:37 PM

Sounds like they got off light.

durangodawood · Friday at 1:38 PM

Am I "soft on terror" if I express skepticism that these kids and their adult chaperones / coaches are terrorists?

GoldenBoy89 · Friday at 1:52 PM

Treating innocent kids as if they are a national security threat is shameful. Just another alarming sign for our friends on the right to ignore.

Also nice bit of DEI letting the runners-up take their place.

ThatRobGuy · Friday at 2:06 PM

durangodawood said:
Am I "soft on terror" if I express skepticism that these kids and their adult chaperones / coaches are terrorists?

Since Venezuela is listed as a "country of concern", that means no entry.
(if they're going to make exceptions for something as trivial as sports, then those kinds of enforcement mechanisms have no teeth)

When you're talking about the age range 13-16 (and there's not robust data sharing between two countries), you're talking about about the potential for people to sneak in under fraudulent documents. (potentially even adults, as most aren't going to be able to definitively tell the difference between a 16 and a 19 year old in many cases)

This happened back in 2011 if you recall with the Ugandan team. Where it turned out that several them weren't actually in that age range, were older, and were using fraudulent birth certificates.

You have cases like this happening as well

Venezuelan man, 24, posed as a teen and attended Ohio high school for more than year, officials say

He was arrested on felony forgery charges. School officials in Perrysburg said the circumstances surrounding the case were "highly unusual and deceptive."

www.nbcnews.com

A Venezuelan dude (who was 24) was posing as a 16 year old for over a year, with a phony birth certificate that was apparently believable enough that it fooled a judge and several school administrators over a 1 year period.

durangodawood · Friday at 2:21 PM

ThatRobGuy said:
Since Venezuela is listed as a "country of concern", that means no entry.
(if they're going to make exceptions for something as trivial as sports, then those kinds of enforcement mechanisms have no teeth)

When you're talking about the age range 13-16 (and there's not robust data sharing between two countries), you're talking about about the potential for people to sneak in under fraudulent documents. (potentially even adults, as most aren't going to be able to definitively tell the difference between a 16 and a 19 year old in many cases)

This happened back in 2011 if you recall with the Ugandan team. Where it turned out that several them weren't actually in that age range, were older, and were using fraudulent birth certificates.

You have cases like this happening as well

Venezuelan man, 24, posed as a teen and attended Ohio high school for more than year, officials say

He was arrested on felony forgery charges. School officials in Perrysburg said the circumstances surrounding the case were "highly unusual and deceptive."

www.nbcnews.com

A Venezuelan dude (who was 24) was posing as a 16 year old for over a year, with a phony birth certificate that was apparently believable enough that it fooled a judge and several school administrators over a 1 year period.

What youre describing is more of a sport competition integrity issue as it should apply to this case.

ThatRobGuy · Friday at 2:56 PM

durangodawood said:
What youre describing is more of a sport competition integrity issue as it should apply to this case.

Actually, what was I referring to was the concerns about people (who maybe aren't actually kids, or people posing as relatives of the kids) with fraudulent documentation

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/708118129/fake-birth-certificates-a-growing-problem-amid-migrant-family-surge

Without robust data sharing systems, we have no way of knowing.

If these were Chinese, Iranian, or Russian teams, would we be haphazardly letting in people who A) claim to only be 16 and B) people claiming to be their family members without the ability to do actual vetting -- merely in the name of a youth sporting competition?

The reason why I linked that story about the 24 year old Venezuelan man enrolled in High School for over a year posing as 16 wasn't to highlight a fairness concern (that's secondary), it was to highlight the fact that our courts aren't particularly sharp at identifying birth certificates (keeping in mind, it was a Juvenile Immigration judge who placed that guy with a foster family and helped facilitate getting other documents so he could enroll in high school), and to highlight the fact that clearly you can't just visually tell who's a 15-16 year old vs. who's an adult and impersonating one in all cases.

GoldenBoy89 · Friday at 3:03 PM

ThatRobGuy said:
Actually, what was I referring to was the concerns about people (who maybe aren't actually kids, or people posing as relatives of the kids) with fraudulent documentation

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/708118129/fake-birth-certificates-a-growing-problem-amid-migrant-family-surge

Without robust data sharing systems, we have no way of knowing.

If these were Chinese, Iranian, or Russian teams, would we be haphazardly letting in people who A) claim to only be 16 and B) people claiming to be their family members without the ability to do actual vetting -- merely in the name of a youth sporting competition?

The reason why I linked that story about the 24 year old Venezuelan man enrolled in High School for over a year posing as 16 wasn't to highlight a fairness concern (that's secondary), it was to highlight the fact that our courts aren't particularly sharp at identifying birth certificates (keeping in mind, it was a Juvenile Immigration judge who placed that guy with a foster family and helped facilitate getting other documents so he could enroll in high school), and to highlight the fact that clearly you can't just visually tell who's a 15-16 year old vs. who's an adult and impersonating one in all cases.

Surely this team has played at least one other game before with the same roster. How hard can it be to find it if these are legitimately a youth team made up of a bunch of kids just coming for the competition or actually a gang of elite Venezuelan special operatives trying to circumvent our borders and immigration laws?

wing2000 · Friday at 3:06 PM

SimplyMe said:
They had qualified to play in the Senior League (ages 13-16) Baseball World Series and now will be replaced by a team from Mexico, who finished as runner up to the Venezuelans. The denial is based on Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and Executive Order that prevents people from Venezuela (and other countries) from entering the US; as Venezuelans are, per Trump's comments, terrorists and enemies to the US.

...maybe the World Cup and Olympic Committeees should re-consider having the U.S. host their respective events.

wing2000 · Friday at 3:10 PM

GoldenBoy89 said:
Surely this team has played at least one other game before with the same roster. How hard can it be to find it if these are legitimately a youth team made up of a bunch of kids just coming for the competition or actually a gang of elite Venezuelan special operatives trying to circumvent our borders and immigration laws?

Yea, the most powerful country on earth is incapable of screening athletes? It's all a show.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration just accepted a known murderer from Venezuela.....

ThatRobGuy · Friday at 3:44 PM

GoldenBoy89 said:
Surely this team has played at least one other game before with the same roster. How hard can it be to find it if these are legitimately a youth team made up of a bunch of kids just coming for the competition or actually a gang of elite Venezuelan special operatives trying to circumvent our borders and immigration laws?

I'm sure they have...

But something that's also happened (involving both the athletes themselves and sometimes their coaches and family members)

2022

Commonwealth Games: Sri Lankan athletes reported missing from athlete's village

Two have since been spoken to by police but the whereabouts of a wrestler is unknown, the team says.

www.bbc.com

2012

https://www.npr.org/2012/08/09/158520725/missing-athletes-join-long-list-of-olympic-defectors

2006

2006 Commonwealth Games - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The types of incidents more broadly explained

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/athletes-missing-international-sporting-events-8076754/

It's even happened earlier this year with Venezuelan Baseball players

https://www.wvia.org/2025-04-14/venezuelan-baseball-players-are-defecting-to-europe-amid-economic-crisis

And in 2018 with Venezuelan Rugby players...

Venezuelan Athletes: Seeking visa for a dream

Some sportspersons leave their delegations to escape the crisis and seek asylum in other nations

latinamericanpost.com

So athletes from Venezuela going to international sporting events (and their families/coaches/etc who accompanying them) getting to the other country, and then trying to claim asylum to avoid going back, it isn't new.

wing2000 · Friday at 4:01 PM

ThatRobGuy said:
So athletes from Venezuela going to international sporting events (and their families/coaches/etc who accompanying them) getting to the other country, and then trying to claim asylum to avoid going back, it isn't new.

Of course....Cuban atheletes have done the same...for decades. Asylum applicants are screened....so?

durangodawood · Friday at 4:27 PM

Well, since its terrorists.... better safe than sorry!

Akita Suggagaki · Friday at 4:30 PM

Are we that fearful now?

ThatRobGuy · Friday at 5:37 PM

wing2000 said:
Of course....Cuban atheletes have done the same...for decades. Asylum applicants are screened....so?

Yes, and they've started having their visa applications for sporting events rejected as well

Cuban Women's Volleyball Team Denied US Visa for Puerto Rico Tournament

The Cuban women’s national volleyball team was denied US visas in June 2025, barring them from competing in the NORCECA Final Four in Puerto Rico. This visa restriction disrupts their training, qualification prospects for future tournaments, and damages sports diplomacy between the US and Cuba...

www.visaverge.com

Given the aforementioned data-exchange being lacking, any screening challenges pertaining to visas would equally apply to asylum applications as well.

With countries like Mexico, Canada, EU nations, Australia, Japan, etc... there's a reciprocal agreements in place where the nations can access each others criminal background check data, verify document authenticity. If I took a trip to Australia, the moment they scan the chip in my passport, they'll have a copy of my fingerprints, background, etc... And vice versa...

That doesn't exist with nations like Cuba and Venezuela.

In fact, Venezuelan passports are particularly difficult to authenticate and rely on due to the fact that it's a notoriously corrupt issuing system. For the right money down there, you can get a legit passport from their government. (legit as in, it's issued by their government therefore it's not going to be able to be detected as a fake)

Reuters and CNN both did reports on it back in 2017.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/world/venezuela-passports-investigation/index.html

Gr8Grace · Friday at 6:00 PM

SimplyMe said:
They had qualified to play in the Senior League (ages 13-16) Baseball World Series and now will be replaced by a team from Mexico, who finished as runner up to the Venezuelans. The denial is based on Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and Executive Order that prevents people from Venezuela (and other countries) from entering the US; as Venezuelans are, per Trump's comments, terrorists and enemies to the US.

Trump is a rockstar. The USA has been giving the benefit of the doubt to all foreign nations for far too long.

Seems to me that most Americans have long forgotten that many foreign nations will use any means available to KILL US.

The Kids are innocent, but what about the adults that come with them?

Vet everything and everyone.

ozso · Friday at 10:28 PM

It's too bad that the Biden administration made such a huge mess of border control, that things like this are happening during the repair process.

GoldenBoy89 · Friday at 10:43 PM

ozso said:
It's too bad that the Biden administration made such a huge mess of border control, that things like this are happening during the repair process.

Ooh that’s a good excuse to keep in one’s front pocket. “The last administration made us do this.”

ozso · Friday at 11:12 PM

GoldenBoy89 said:
Ooh that’s a good excuse to keep in one’s front pocket. “The last administration made us do this.”

You say that as if I was the current admin. I'm just the average citizen putting in his 2 cents worth. Which isn't as easy as it used to be since I outlawed pennies.

wing2000 · 2025-07-26T07:43:21-0500

ThatRobGuy said:
Yes, and they've started having their visa applications for sporting events rejected as well

Cuban Women's Volleyball Team Denied US Visa for Puerto Rico Tournament

The Cuban women’s national volleyball team was denied US visas in June 2025, barring them from competing in the NORCECA Final Four in Puerto Rico. This visa restriction disrupts their training, qualification prospects for future tournaments, and damages sports diplomacy between the US and Cuba...

www.visaverge.com

Given the aforementioned data-exchange being lacking, any screening challenges pertaining to visas would equally apply to asylum applications as well.

In 2025 under the Trump administration.

ThatRobGuy said:
With countries like Mexico, Canada, EU nations, Australia, Japan, etc... there's a reciprocal agreements in place where the nations can access each others criminal background check data, verify document authenticity. If I took a trip to Australia, the moment they scan the chip in my passport, they'll have a copy of my fingerprints, background, etc... And vice versa...

That doesn't exist with nations like Cuba and Venezuela.

In fact, Venezuelan passports are particularly difficult to authenticate and rely on due to the fact that it's a notoriously corrupt issuing system. For the right money down there, you can get a legit passport from their government. (legit as in, it's issued by their government therefore it's not going to be able to be detected as a fake)

Reuters and CNN both did reports on it back in 2017.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/world/venezuela-passports-investigation/index.html

And?
What is the threat? For decades, atheletes from these countries have attended sporting events in the United States. What security issues have occurred?

Venezuelan Baseball Team denied entry into US

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