Trump travel ban, new revenue-sharing model create uncertainty for international college athletes

New York Times

4 hours ago

Moses Jean-Pierre is the son of two Haitian immigrants. He grew up near Boston, where his mother would cook for any child in the neighborhood who looked hungry, regardless of whether the family knew them. His parents were the 'cornerstone' of their West Cambridge, Mass. community, Jean-Pierre said, and so before his parents died in 2017 and 2019, he promised them he would honor their roots and continue giving back to Haitian communities.
Advertisement
About a decade ago, Jean-Pierre founded Hoops for Haiti, a nonprofit that mentors youth in Haiti and Haitian communities in the U.S. and elsewhere. The organization offers basketball and other initiatives in education and mental health to facilitate better opportunities, including high school and college athletics in the U.S.
'Some of the kids already come from trauma in Haiti, and coming here legally, this was their dream,' Jean-Pierre said. 'I've never seen them so happy to have an opportunity.'
That mission has encountered sudden and significant change due to Haiti's inclusion in a recent proclamation issued by President Donald Trump that restricts travel to the U.S. Haiti is one of 12 fully restricted countries; another seven have partial restrictions.
'It's been very, very, very difficult within this process because I get the tears, I have some students who have gone through so much,' said Jean-Pierre. 'For me and some of those other kids who are in Haiti, I have to start looking at, 'Maybe the U.S. is not the place to go right now.''
Jean-Pierre's focus is on one of the 19 newly restricted countries, but his sentiment extends to a much broader group of young people facing similar uncertainty: international college athletes.
The travel ban features exceptions for athletes traveling to the U.S. for major sporting events such as the ongoing Concacaf Gold Cup or next summer's FIFA World Cup, but international college athletes are not specified in the listed exemptions. The Trump administration described the restrictions as 'necessary to garner cooperation from foreign governments' and enforce immigration laws, among other reasons. Trump in the proclamation cited visa overstay rates as a reason to restrict travel from Haiti.
The restrictions came during a U.S. pause on all new student visa applications, which was lifted on Wednesday, and just as college sports is establishing a new financial model under the recently approved House settlement, which allows Division I schools to begin sharing revenue directly with college athletes on July 1.
International college athletes, the vast majority of whom are on F-1 student visa classifications, are eligible to receive revenue sharing under the terms of the settlement. But schools and athletes will have to consider how this new system aligns with student visas that do not authorize employment, against a backdrop of heightened attention on U.S. immigration.
Advertisement
As written, the U.S. travel restrictions, mostly for countries in Africa and the Middle East, should directly impact only a small percentage of current international college athletes. The most recent NCAA data estimates there were roughly 23,000 international college athletes across all divisions in 2023-24. That equals about 4 percent of all college athletes, only a sliver of whom hail from the 19 restricted countries. The NCAA's data on athlete country of origin, last updated in 2022, counted athletes from 12 of the 19 impacted countries, but only two produced more than a dozen athletes that year: Haiti (24) and Venezuela (126). Canada, for comparison, had the most international students with 4,408.
In addition to the travel exceptions for athletes and team members to major sporting events, there are also exceptions for existing visa holders, and anyone currently in the U.S. on a visa should not be at risk of being detained, even if their visa has lapsed since last entering the country, according to immigration attorneys.
Any additional exceptions, including the designation of major sporting events, will be at the discretion of the Secretary of State, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State.
Because of the caveats for existing visa holders, the international college athletes most likely to be impeded by the ban would be those who need a U.S. visa, either new athletes or current athletes from the banned countries who might have traveled home for the summer on an expired visa.
Many others, however, are feeling the ripple effects. Jean-Pierre described his inability to bring a 6-foot-8, 16-year-old athlete to a high school in Florida due to the travel ban, despite nearly a year of planning and just before his visa was expected.
'Right now the change has been the disappointment of this kid coming to a school in Florida that's predominantly a lot of Haitian kids and an opportunity to assemble with his community in the U.S. and (not only) get an education but be a productive member of society,' Jean-Pierre said. 'And to have that taken away is very disheartening. But I'm not gonna give up.'
Advertisement
The athlete, whom The Athletic is not naming because he is a minor, said in a message that he was 'devastated' to hear about the ban and isn't sure what's next. He will remain in Haiti for the time being.
'I felt bad and that saddened me because I finally saw an opportunity to do something big with my talent to help my family,' he wrote of no longer being able to attend school in Florida, where he was planning to play basketball. 'I will continue praying and trusting God, but for now I am lost.'
Others affected by the travel bans have been hesitant to speak out publicly on the matter, even if they are currently in the U.S. One current international Division I athlete told The Athletic in a social media message that he is currently stuck in Canada and 'not allowed to enter back into the United States.' The Athletic made multiple requests to speak with current college athletes from countries included in the travel ban, but each was declined due to the sensitivity of the situation.
The NCAA has not publicly spoken about the travel and visa restrictions and declined to comment for this story.
Recent reports indicate that the travel ban could expand to as many as 36 additional countries, most of which are in Africa. That includes Nigeria, Egypt and Ghana, each of which was estimated to have more than 70 NCAA athletes as of 2022.
South Sudan is also on the list of 36 additional countries, just months after the U.S. State Department took actions to revoke existing visas and halted the issuance of new visas for South Sudanese passport holders. Announced during the Final Four of the NCAA men's basketball Tournament in early April, that ban made headlines regarding then-Duke freshman Khaman Maluach, a native of South Sudan. Maluach has since declared for the NBA Draft, which will be held next week in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he is expected to be a top-10 selection. Maluach was recruited to Duke through the NBA Academy Africa, a training center in Senegal for top African prospects.
The NBA told The Athletic it is currently advising Maluach on the visa and immigration process, as it does for all international players and draft prospects. According to the NBA, it does not have any active players or projected draft picks from the 19 countries with travel restrictions, but the league and its international academies work closely with the State Department and abide by U.S. law and policy.
Advertisement
Multiple immigration attorneys told The Athletic they are advising international college students on the matter.
'I do not want my international athletes traveling abroad unless it's a true emergency,' said Ksenia Maiorova, an attorney with Green and Spiegel law firm who advises universities, athletic departments and international college students on immigration issues. 'It's just not worth the risk.'
Beyond the existing restrictions and possibility that more countries could be added, the nearly month-long pause on processing student visa applications likely created a backlog that could slow the overall process in the immediate future, along with the new State Department directive that applicants will be asked to make their social media accounts public and screened for perceived 'hostility' directed at the United States.
The Trump administration is also in a legal battle with Harvard over an edict to bar all international students from attending the university. And according to Maiorova, a valid visa does not guarantee admission into the United States.
'In addition to the bans, you have to consider that a student-athlete could just be denied entry on a valid visa even if there is no ban,' she said. 'They present themselves at the border, have a conversation with a (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) officer, and that officer determines whether or not to admit. If that officer determines for whatever reason the student-athlete is not maintaining their status or in violation of U.S. immigration law, they could refuse admission and revoke the visa and send them back. There's no real due process in that scenario.'
Aaron Blumberg, an attorney with Fragomen law firm who also advises universities and students on immigration issues, added that even though the pause on student visas has been lifted, it still increases the possibility that any international student, regardless of country, may not secure a visa as quickly as they had hoped.
'The pause happened in the heart of peak season to obtain a student visa,' said Blumberg. 'I'm sure there are summer workouts starting for programs that might not have every international team member in time.'
Advertisement
The House settlement has introduced another potential concern. Most student visas offer very limited labor and employment authorization on U.S. soil. Prior to the settlement's approval, this forced international college athletes to find creative workarounds in order to collect name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation from third-party entities, such as former Kentucky men's basketball player Oscar Tshiebwe completing his NIL deliverables during an offseason trip to the Bahamas in 2022.
Terms of the House settlement alter that landscape by allowing schools to distribute revenue sharing directly to athletes beginning next month. Some legal experts argue that international athletes are eligible to receive those funds because they are considered royalties or passive income (as opposed to labor), which is allowable under a traditional F-1 student visa.
NCAA president Charlie Baker told Yahoo Sports last week that he believes international college athletes can receive revenue sharing from schools, but that the NCAA 'still has some work to do' and is seeking legal counsel. Sources familiar with the House settlement and newly created College Sports Commission oversight told The Athletic that schools are eligible to distribute revenue sharing to international athletes as they see fit, but it is a school's responsibility to evaluate how that could impact an athlete's visa status.
'The (revenue sharing) agreements use all this magic language to make it sound a lot less like compensation for the availability of the student-athlete to play sports at a certain school,' Maiorova said. 'They don't call it a salary or employment or labor, but it can be construed as compensation for their services as an athlete.'
Maiorova's concern is that the Trump administration or the Department of Homeland Security could interpret revenue sharing with international athletes in this way, and possibly even target certain universities, which could then trigger student visa issues across the country.
'Some schools don't seem to be aware of how close they might be to triggering those (labor) provisions,' said Maiorova, 'because they are getting advice that as long as they refer to the revenue sharing as royalties or passive income (for international athletes), they will be fine. Which, in my opinion, is horrendous legal advice.'
It's why Maiorova and Blumberg are advising college athletes to seek alternative, work-approved visa designations such as P-1a visas for athletes who are internationally recognized or O-1 visas for people with 'extraordinary ability.' But those options are more expensive and tougher to get approved. Maiorova is currently representing Last-Tear Poa, an Australia native and women's college basketball player who recently transferred from LSU to Arizona State. Poa filed a lawsuit in Louisiana against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) after her application for a P-1a visa was denied last year.
Advertisement
'(University) compliance departments have gotten comfortable pushing the envelope with NCAA enforcement, but DHS is not the entity you want to play that game with,' said Maiorova.
A State Department spokesperson said that each visa applicant is reviewed individually based on U.S. law, and that the department cannot comment on or anticipate how the House settlement will or will not affect visa adjudications. For inquiries about the status of student visa holders in the U.S., the State Department defers to the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), USCIS and the White House directed requests for guidance on the matter to the State Department.
'There are so many different things all going on at once that are making it really challenging for international students, for colleges and for their athletic teams,' said Blumberg. 'That could be a continuing trend for the foreseeable future.'
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos:, iStock)