Why wouldn't testing positive for EPO be an automatic disqualifier for US citizenship? Ridouane Harroufi win US 15k title

You can cheat, lie, etc and be president of the country. At least this guys served his time.

I'm okay if he's a citizen. I think USATF should have a clause that if you have a previous positive test for another country and you're trying to gain US citizenship you can but you can't compete for our country or at any US and/or qualifying Championships.

Great spot.

Scammers and dopers.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5599760&page=2#5610175

I'm sure if he was white Rojo would be saying how he deserves a 2nd chance and everyone makes mistakes.

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cause nobody cares wrote:
You can cheat, lie, etc and be president of the country. At least this guys served his time.

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Actually, he's almost certainly not "served his time," as that includes "forfeiture of all points, prizes, and medals" per the standard usada or wada sanction language. Forfeiture = paying prize money back. This never happens, yet people are allowed to race again. I get small time races but the onus should be on usatf to ensure that these kind of people show proof before they're allowed to race (and impact results), let alone receive prize money from us championships.

Robert, as far as the morals clause, dude, c'mon. You know as well as I do that an epo positive would be so beyond subjective that the gov't lawyer wouldn't even waste his/her time bringing it up. Not sure why you bothered mentioning it, not worth the breath. If you want to actually do something about it, PLEASE reach out to usatf and ask them if they have proof that Harroufi has completed the mandates of his sanction, including "forfeiture of prizes (i.e., prize money)"

Love to see you do this and post on this thread if/when you receive a response. As far as I know, there's only been a couple people who have paid back money, yet all these dopers are allowed to return and race (see Akor, Mary), which is complete bullshnikes.

All Kenyans dope
All Moroccans dope.
All Ethiopians dope.

It's crazy to let anyone from those doping hotbeds represent the USA.
Half our marathon is already East Africa born, it bett it will be even worse in the 5K and 10K.
We are becoming the next Qatar!

On what ground would being "a drug cheat" disqualify someone from becoming a US citizen? If you're going to argue "good moral character," something that amounts to "cheating in running" is a reeeeeeaaaaal stretch (not against the law, btw) considering how they define the requirement and compared to what US Immigration defines as "disqualifying activities."

Fact is, he broke no laws and his "crime" is nowhere comparably egregious enough to disqualify him.

Nonsense Rojo.

His victory is more proof that Africans have better genetics and anyone who disagrees is stoopid (and racist).

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not my real name wrote:

Robert, as far as the morals clause, dude, c'mon. You know as well as I do that an epo positive would be so beyond subjective that the gov't lawyer wouldn't even waste his/her time bringing it up.

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You can get deported on a green card for crimes of moral turpitude, which includes drug use / abuse.

"Can a Drug Crime Be a Crime of Moral Turpitude?
Regardless of what your crime was named, if it is viewed as reprehensible, and was committed with some degree of intent, deliberateness, willfulness or recklessness, it may be considered a crime of moral turpitude, or CIMT. You can be deportable for either:

one crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years of admission to the U.S. if you could have received a prison sentence of one year or more. (I.N.A. § 237(a)(2)(A)(i)) or
two or more crimes involving moral turpitude that did not arise out of “a single scheme of criminal misconduct.” (I.N.A. § 237(a)(2)(A)(i).)
Convictions for drug distribution or trafficking have been found to be CIMTs. Other drug crimes, such as possession or use, are typically not considered crimes involving moral turpitude – but they don’t need to in this context, because drug crimes are separately listed in the statute as grounds of deportability, as described below. Also, if separate charges were added onto a drug crime, these might constitute CIMTs."

I suspect doping is unlikely to result in criminal prosecution or a prison sentence so there were no issues. When we applied for our green card, our lawyer heavily emphasised avoiding any drugs whatsoever because he had seen a bunch of his clients get deported over it. This was a white collar middle class lawyer too.

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rojo wrote:
I just came across the results for the 2020 US 15k Champs from the weekend at Gate River and was disturbed to see that the winner of the $12,000 was ex-Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi, who was banned from the sport for two years for EPO in 2013. Apparently, as of late February, he's now eligible to run for the US.

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Robert, the reason I say that (I agree with you that it should be a disqualifying offense, btw), is that any attorney worth their salt is going to have it dismissed as inapplicable to their clients case. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in. Yes, by the absolute letter of the law, the case can be made to bar him from the privilege of citizenship. However, until the law is applied this way, and applied consistently, I'll be rational and know that the powers that be will not enforce that sort of standard, so it's silly to expect it when it basically never happens.

More importantly would be journalists and fellow competitors reaching out to usatf and inquiring as to exactly what parts of his sanction requirements were confirmed to be met by the athlete (harroufi) before usatf allowed him to race a usatf sanctioned race. If you can get them to admit that he has NOT satisfied ALL of the requirements of his sanction, then you might be able to get some traction on his eligibility being revoked for us championship races. That would be a good thing, IMO. Look forward to checking this thread in a few days and learning what you hear back from usatf. thanks.

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rojo wrote:
I just came across the results for the 2020 US 15k Champs from the weekend at Gate River and was disturbed to see that the winner of the $12,000 was ex-Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi, who was banned from the sport for two years for EPO in 2013. Apparently, as of late February, he's now eligible to run for the US.

Can someone tell me why in the world would we grant citizenship to an EPO cheat? There are literally BILLIONS of people that would instantly accept US citizenship if we offered it to them. Why in the hell would we grant citizenship to a guy who tested positive for EPO?

Isn't there some sort of morals clause in citizenship applications?

Or can anyone get it? I wish this was a joke.

Does anyone know when he got his citizenship? I'm virtually certain it was after his EPO positive.

Can one's citizenship possibly be stripped for something like this - like maybe he didn't disclose it on the application?

Yes, he's said some great things about the country and how it's the greatest on earth and his kids were born here but it seems unreal that we have people like Cheserek trying to get citizenship and we give it to this guy. Yes, it would be very hard to be a pro runner, poor and in need of some cash to support the family. So I get why someone would take EPO, but it seems to me that should be a DQ for citizenship.

Any citizenship experts on here?

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I'm fine with him being a citizen and maybe even competing and winning prize money but he should not be allowed to make money at USATF races or even compete on behalf of the US internationally. They should key in on him and test him like crazy now. I don't think he's legit. Hehir called him out in the comments on a very recent Instagram post.

How are you in charge of a website?

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cause nobody cares wrote:
You can cheat, lie, etc and be president of the country. At least this guys served his time.

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sbeefyk2 wrote:
US citizenship can be blocked if you have committed a crime. Doping is not a crime in the court of law. You are conflating running rules with legal law. There's no law in any state or the federal level that says you cannot take EPO. You should be writing to the USATF to ban a doping cheat from competing for the US team and at US Championships.

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