The news arrives as many expect the rising star to be an NBA first-round draft pick this June after a breakout season.
During this past NCAA March Madness tournament, Khaman Maluach became a rising star as a stand-out freshman center for Duke. After this weekend, the native of South Sudan’s future in the country is potentially up in the air.
A new visa policy announced by the Trump administration on Saturday seeks to revoke visas for all South Sudanese passport holders in the United States and bar any further entries into the country, Al Jazeera reported. The move could impact hundreds of individuals currently studying, working, and living in the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the visa policy be happening in a “timely manner” in response to South Sudan’s transitional government’s refusal to accept U.S. deportees from the United States, NBC News reported.
“It is time for the Transitional Government of South Sudan to stop taking advantage of the United States,” Rubio said in a statement.
Frank Tramble, vice president of communications, marketing, and public affairs at Duke, said in a statement, per The New York Times, that the school is aware of the State Department’s announcement.
“We are looking into the situation and working expeditiously to understand any implications for Duke students,” Tramble said.
The sweeping visa ban was issued effective immediately. Rubio said in the statement that the policy would be reviewed “when South Sudan is in full cooperation.” Meanwhile, the country has also been plagued with political conflict for the past decade, resulting in violence, hunger, and civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and left millions more displaced.
According to the New York Times, Maluach fled South Sudan as a child with his family to Uganda. He was later recruited to Duke after scouts recommended the 7-foot-2 basketball phenom attend the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal.
Now, the Duke freshman risks not being able to return to the country if he leaves. He could also be forced to leave should the visa policy escalate to deportation. However, it may not come to that, as this week, South Sudan agreed to accept at least one South Sudanese deportee from the states.
The news arrives as the 18-year-old, who represented South Sudan at the Olympics in Paris last summer and averaged 8.6 points in 39 games this season, is expected to be a first-round pick in the NBA draft in June.
Last week, the center described his unlikely journey from Africa to Duke while speaking to NBC News during the Final Four.
“It never really crossed my mind that one day I’ll be playing for Duke,” Maluach said. “I didn’t know I was going to go to college,” much less “be able to play in a Final Four.”
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