Indian actor Neil Nitin Mukesh was recently detained by immigration officials who doubted his Indian nationality due to his fair complexion.  The actor, who says he can pass for being British or American, was in the US filming the movie “New York”, which tells about the discrimination people from the Middle East face in the US after the 9/11 attacks.  According to Mr. Mukesh, this incident has given him new insight into his movie role.

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Gilberto Reyes of the Dominican Republic, a former baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Montreal Expos, is facing deportation in connection with marijuana charges in New Mexico. Reyes was in the US in 2007 on a temporary visa and was charged with marijuana trafficking. Reyes was granted conditional release in March, but then seized by ICE agents who put him in deportation proceedings.

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Lamech Mokono of Kenya was unable to compete in the annual Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota because his petition for a professional athlete visa was not complete.  USCIS sent a request for the missing documentation, to which Mr. Mokono responded.  It is expected that he will granted the visa so he can compete in other US races later this year.

Mr. Mokono is the defending men’s champion of Grandma’s Marathon, which attracts over 120 elite athletes from around the globe each year.  Mr. Mokono wasn’t the only elite athlete who had to withdraw from the race due to immigration issues.  Four Kenyans from the men’s race had visa problems: Benson Cheruiyot, Christopher Kipkering, Haron Bor and John Tubei.

While Americans won both the men’s and women’s divisions of the race, foreign-born athletes did place well.  Charles Kanyao of Kenya placed second and David Tuwei of Kenya was third in the men’s division, while Alina Ivanova of Russia was second in the women’s division.

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Canadian hockey coach Dave Allison, who was hired to coach the Des Moines Buccaneers in June, has resigned because it was uncertain if he would be able to obtain an O-1 visa for extraordinary ability.  Mr. Allison will instead be a scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he can continue working on his P-1 visa.

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A recent Wall Street Journal article reports on the upsurge of foreign born baseball players in the U.S. major and minor leagues, which has risen to approximately 3,500 players in 2009, up from 2,964 in 2006.  This increase is attributed to the changes in the P-1 visa category.  Players hail from Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Haiti, Russia, the Czech Republic, and for the first time in history, India and New Zealand’s Maori tribe.

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