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Can we just deport him? And no I am not talking about a Somalian, but Alexander Ovechkin. He just appeared in a Russian political ad. When asked why he did that he replied, “I’m Russian, I support my country”. But here’s the thing the west and to a lesser extent the US is at war with Russia. Undeclared and without ground troops, but we are contributing financing, seized Russian assets, and have and probably still provide intelligence to the Ukrainian side. I think supporting a foreign government at war with America is perfectly fine grounds to deport someone.
The counter argument and I think a reasonable opinion for letting him stay is that cultural exchange makes peace easier. So there are solid grounds for letting him stay. I probably take the opinion that letting him play hockey in the US is better for US foreign policy than deportation.
From a cultural war perspective I would love Trump to deport him and make the lefties who “support Ukraine” make arguments for why Ovechkin in ICE shackles is a bad thing. Meh “free speech”. I did the AI thing and it sounds like he doesn’t have US citizenship but if he did he would make a perfect test case for denaturalization. Declaring yourself to have loyalties to a foreign government at war with the US seems absolutely perfect for denaturalization.
Also, nice culture war on Trump is a Russian agent by deporting a Russian. And it fits with the meme “we need them for the sports ball team”.
He’s just a perfect test case for deportation since his politics are against the US left instead of their Hamas adjacent friends who a broad swath of the left supports.
My general logic for 'deportability' is "does this person contribute a net positive to the country, or at least not impose an obvious liability."
If we're actively at war with their nation of origin, the possible liability of letting them stay is kind of obvious, if not quite self-evident.
So a foreigner who is mostly collecting handouts and may or may not be engaging in fraud or possibly worse/more violent crimes but is allowing others in their community to do so is higher on my list than a millionaire hockey player.
But all of the above should be on a short leash for any crimes they may partake in, in that regard. (I guess its worth noting that I also am generally down for exiling U.S. citizens for certain classes of crimes, for the same reason!)
I thus can't see Ovechkin as a target in that regard. If he did in fact break some U.S. law then I guess he has to go, but we've sanctioned Russia, not declared war on them, so I don't see that his presence in the ad is actionable by itself.
Of course this falls into my general "celebrities, athletes, actors should SHUT UP about political causes altogether" opinion. The NHL already had its kerfuffle with some players not wanting to wear Pride Jerseys and the players 'won' that exchange it seems the NHL has taken the lesson somewhat to heart.
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