According to those links, the flight crew and ground staff asked him to step off the plane, not US officials. I don’t know what the issue was, but glad he got it straightened out.
According to those links, the flight crew and ground staff asked him to step off the plane, not US officials. I don’t know what the issue was, but glad he got it straightened out.
The ESTA program covers business or pleasure, however you need a P-1A visa to enter to participate in a sports event as a professional. It doesn't allow 5 years of continuous residency, that's the upper limit for the application and you're allowed to extend to 10 years if necessary once your 5 years has expired. Applications are only approved for the time it takes to complete the activity in the US and as the championship is for 10 days you would only expect the visa to cover a brief period either side of this.
Visa applications typically take 3-6 months however this can be expidited to 15 days on payment of $1225. Most trials took place 3 weeks prior and some teams finalized just 2 weeks ago so there isn't much time for any of these applications to be done.
I didn't say a P-1 allows for 5 years of continuous residency, though. I said this kind of visa lasts for 5 years, meaning remains valid/in force for 5 years. I also said the 5-year validity period can be extended to 10 years in some cases. I never said or implied that this means the P-1 allows a holder to reside continuously in the US for the entire period the visa is valid. I said the P-1 allows for (multiple) very long stays in the US during the time period the visa is valid.
By contrast, an ESTA remains valid for 2 years, and during that time it allows for (multiple) visits of up to 90 days each.
The P-1 visa isn't valid for 5 years. It's valid only as long as need to be in the USA. As the championship is for 10 days, the visa will only be valid until the end of July at the latest. It's not valid for multiple visits unless your visits are part of a series of events or as a tour. Members of sports teams will only be granted a maximum stay of 1 year to do that, and musicians and other entertainers can be granted up to 5 years. But those are the maximum length you can apply for. If it's not necessary to have a 5 year visa then it won't be approved.
Individual athletes traveling for Diamond League or big city marathons have probably got in with an ESTA, however with 2,000 athletes arriving in Eugene, the managers of the national federations are likely applying en masse for their athletes for P-1A visas, which strictly speaking is the correct visa to apply for. Other sports generally know who is travelling and when, way in advance. As the trial events for many nations only took place a few weeks ago, you can see why there's a problem.
You right wingers are getting your wish, which is a federal government chock full of systems and agencies which no longer work. That's the republican way, to tell voters that the government is the problem, get themselves elected, destroy the fabric of essential agencies and services through underfunding and structural attack, siphon as much taxpayer money as possible into the greedy paws of their cronies, cut taxes to the bone, and declare victory. Gut the whole thing, create chaos, go back to your home compound.
Regarding immigration specifically, hateful right wingers have mercilessly attacked relevant agencies and policies for decades. We now have a highly politicized and generally ineffective federal immigration apparatus. This system is EXACTLY what your money men and politicians have been fighting for since the 1980s. Be happy. It's broken, just like you have voted for for decades.
Most of the right wingers I've known will be happy as hell to see utterly ineffective federal structures right up until THEIR airplane crashes, or THEY have to wait in two hour lines to come back through customs at the airport, or THEIR social security checks become delayed, or in this case THEIR preferred hobbies are impacted.
When you break the federal government, things that we all take for granted stop working.