Thread: ALI:Foreign-born athletes are set to take the stage for U.S.

Foreign-born athletes are set to take the stage for U.S.


Associated Press

July 21, 2008 at 7:41 AM EDT

NEW YORK — As the U.S. struggles with immigration policy, Americans will get a chance next month to see their melting-pot nation through the prism of foreign-born athletes competing in USA uniforms at the Beijing Olympics.

There are at least 32 of them, compared to 27 at the 2004 Summer Games, according to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which didn't track the statistic before then.

They include four Chinese-born table tennis players, a kayaker from Britain, Russian-born world champion gymnast Nastia Liukin and seven members of the track-and-field team.

For those seeking symbolism, it's hard to top the men's 1,500-metre squad - Kenya native Bernard Lagat; Lopez Lomong, one of the "lost boys" of Sudan's civil war who spent a decade in a refugee camp; and Leo Manzano, a Mexican labourer's son who moved to the U.S. when he was four but didn't gain citizenship until 2004.

"It's a magical time," said U.S. men's track coach, Bubba Thornton. "I'm glad that these young men found their way here.

"It may just remind us all of where we came from, and how hard the struggle may have been, and how big the dream was to be here."

Within their sport, the three 1,500-metre runners have been warmly embraced, as have other immigrants among the 596 U.S. Olympic athletes.

"I don't think of any of our foreign-born athletes as foreign," said Jill Geer, USA Track & Field's communications director.

"In USATF, no-one considers them anything but American, and I'm not saying that just because it's the right thing to say."

Beyond the realm of sports, the rancorous national debate over immigration has focused on foreigners here illegally and whether they should be offered a pathway to citizenship.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favours stricter immigration enforcement, said foreign-born Olympians merit public support.

He says they should be viewed as exceptions in a system fraught with flaws and unfairness.

"Not everybody coming into the U.S. is an Olympic athlete or a Nobel prize winner," Mehlman said. "Maybe this ought to be a wake-up call that we ought to design am immigration policy that seeks out exceptional people."

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, said the achievements of naturalized citizens like Lagat and Lomong should be celebrated, but not used as an argument for a more lenient immigration policy.

Gheen passed along a joke circulating on the Internet that alludes to illegal Mexico-to-U.S. border-crossing - over fences, deserts and the Rio Grande.

The gist of it: Mexico will do poorly in the Olympics "because all their best runners, jumpers and swimmers are in the United States."

Randy Capps, a demographer with the non-partisan Urban Institute who studies immigrant families, sees the U.S. as keeping pace with global competition in its acceptance of foreign-born athletes.

"Would you rather have them competing for someone else? Would you rather the U.S. be more competitive or less competitive?" he asked.

"You wouldn't want an immigration policy that would exclude people who could potentially be the best at what they do."

Many other countries welcome foreign-born athletes to their own teams.

Canada, with a relatively open immigration policy, expects to have more than 50 on its team in Beijing.

Generally, foreign countries don't complain when their citizens relocate to compete for the U.S.

However, some Kenyan officials were displeased when they learned that Lagat - who attended Washington State University but won two Olympic medals for Kenya - had quietly gained U.S. citizenship in 2004 prior to the Athens Games.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/stor ... Other/home

You wouldn't want an immigration policy that would exclude people who could potentially be the best at what they do."




Ah, so now we should decide immigration policy and reform on the possibility that we might just miss out on foreign born athletes to take to the Olympics maybe....what...once or twice in their lifetimes?

And what would they have to contribute to the US for the rest of their lives?

Call me an old fuddy-duddy but I'm one that's so community bound, I want the Chicago Bears to only be guys from Illinois or the surrounding area. You know where you can follow their career from the beginning and see the home town boy make it big. I know it can't go that way forever, but that's me. Now they don't even have to be a citizen in some sports to play and you can't tell me we don't have talent undiscovered somewhere out there.

Now....gee, make yourself a citizen right in the nick of time and you can do the Olympics. Is it really to be a citizen or a temporary pit stop? With dual citizenships and stuff....hey, play for the US this time and Kenya the next. I'm just not ready for all this globalization and open borders and get where the gettings good, I guess.

Don't get me wrong.....I love the stories and love to see those who may never had a chance in their home country to make it. It's just being watered down so much. Kind of like America's got talent and they bring in people from other countries. Just looses it's meaning.

These athletes are LEGAL, doesn't matter where they were born. We've got US born athletes who are competing for mexico! They couldn't make the US team?

Stop Illegals in America

Stop Illegals in America

These athletes are LEGAL, doesn't matter where they were born.

You are right about that. Atleast they are citizens and have done nothing illegal. Guess it's the fact they didn't become citizens till so close and with the dual citizenship thing it bugs me. Kind of like the rich movie stars that get the vast majority of their money from us.....yet live abroad. Don't like them much either. Where's the loyality to the hand that feeds you?

I knew immediately when I spoke to this reporter that the other side was trying to use these LEGAL IMMIGRANT athletes to push their illegal alien agenda.

I think the joke really pissed them off.

Of course, someone will say that Mexican citizenship equals a race again and that the joke is racist in some way.

How much you wanna bet?

W

miguelina wrote:

These athletes are LEGAL, doesn't matter where they were born. We've got US born athletes who are competing for mexico! They couldn't make the US team?

What's that say about the sport(s)? As a youth I remember being told on numerous occasions that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game that counts. I still believe there is a lot of truth to that old saying. Personally, I think all those that represent our country in the olympics games should be American born or a naturalized U.S. citizen. For eligibility to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, you must first be a legal permanent resident for five years (green card holder). Just being legal isn't good enough for me because that can happen with a simple wave of a wand. I would like to know that the participants have a stake in our country, not just brought in to represent us. Hiring mercenaries to do the work Americans should be doing just doesn't seem right to me.

Originally Posted by MW

miguelina wrote:

These athletes are LEGAL, doesn't matter where they were born. We've got US born athletes who are competing for mexico! They couldn't make the US team?

What's that say about the sport(s)? As a youth I remember being told on numerous occasions that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game that counts. I still believe there is a lot of truth to that old saying. Personally, I think all those that represent our country in the olympics games should be American born or a naturalized U.S. citizen. For eligibility to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, you must first be a legal permanent resident for five years (green card holder). Just being legal isn't good enough for me because that can happen with a simple wave of a wand. I would like to know that the participants have a stake in our country, not just brought in to represent us. Hiring mercenaries to do the work Americans should be doing just doesn't seem right to me.

Olympic team rules state that you must be a US citizen to compete for a US team. I tend to use the term legal anytime someone mentions US citizens who are foreign-born. Sorry for the confusion.