Two Kashmiri athletes who had alleged that their visa applications to the United States were denied because of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy have now been allowed to travel to the country, the Snowshoe Federation of India said on Facebook on Friday. The athletes – Tanveer Hussain and Abid Khan – will participate at the 2017 World Snowshoe Championships in New York on February 24 and 25.
The federation said US Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand had looked into the matter and helped Hussain and Khan get their visas.
On January 31, the athletes had claimed that the US embassy officials had turned down their applications saying they were unable to give them a visa “because of their current policy”. A spokesperson for the US Embassy in New Delhi had then said that Indian citizens were not affected by Trump’s executive order.
The four-month curb, according to Trump’s executive order, was specific to seven Muslim-majority countries – Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on February 9 had refused to reinstate the immigration ban observing that the Trump administration had failed to provide evidence to justify the move on national security grounds. On Thursday, Trump announced that he will issue “a new and very comprehensive order to protect” the country.
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