Guatemalan U-15 soccer team has visas denied on way to U.S. for Concacaf tournament
A number of players from the Guatemalan under-15 boys soccer team were not allowed entry into the United States while traveling to the CONCACAF U-15 tournament.
There were reportedly 11 players who had their visas denied by the United States. While some teams have had similar issues, that number is unprecedented, according to Guatemalan federation president Gerardo Paiz.
ESPN’s Tom Marshall reported the following:
Just spoke to Guatemalan federation president Gerardo Paiz about 11 kids being denied visas to the USA for the CONCACAF U-15 tournament: "It's happened with other national teams that (they say) yes to some and not others. In this particular case they denied all of them." https://t.co/QEFPkSV8KW
— Tom Marshall (@mexicoworldcup) July 26, 2019
The boys U-15 tournament is set to take place August 4-11. Guatemala was expected to be in Group B.
Guatemala will still take part in the tournament, but with different players, according to ESPN.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened Guatemala with tariffs, among other things after Guatemala did not sign the “Safe Third Agreement.”
Guatemala, which has been forming Caravans and sending large numbers of people, some with criminal records, to the United States, has decided to break the deal they had with us on signing a necessary Safe Third Agreement. We were ready to go. Now we are looking at the “BAN,”....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2019
....Tariffs, Remittance Fees, or all of the above. Guatemala has not been good. Big U.S. taxpayer dollars going to them was cut off by me 9 months ago.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2019
The Safe Third Country Agreement deals with refugee status in both the United States and Canada. It states that people seeking refugee status in either country must do so in the first country they arrive in.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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