Luol Deng Comments on President Donald Trump's Immigration Ban

On Monday, Los Angeles Lakers forward Luol Deng joined the list of athletes and coaches who have spoken out against President Donald Trump's immigration ban enacted by executive order:

President Trump's order has temporarily banned immigration and most travel from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen and indefinitely banned refugees from Syria from entering the United States. Deng was born in a part of Sudan that has since become South Sudan and is a citizen of South Sudan, which has not been affected by the order.

Several members of the NBA community have publicly opposed President Trump's controversial order. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had strong words on the matter.

"I would just say that as someone whose family member was a victim of terrorism, having lost my father, if we're trying to combat terrorism by banishing people from coming to this country by really going against the principles that this country is about and creating fear, it's the wrong way to go about it," Kerr said, per Anthony Slater of the Bay Area News Group. "If anything, we could be breeding anger and terror, so I'm completely against what's happening. I think it's shocking and a horrible idea and I really feel for all the people who are affected and the families that are being torn apart and I worry in the big picture what this means to the security of the world.

"He's going about it completely the opposite—you want to solve terror, you want to solve crime, this is not the way to do it."

Former players Steve Nash and Nazr Mohammed also made strong statements:

Current Brooklyn Nets forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, a Muslim who was born and raised in Pennsylvania, spoke out against the refugee ban as well:

Professional sports leagues, which are generally comprised of athletes from all over the world, could be greatly affected if Trump's refugee and immigration policies are extended beyond their temporary status or expanded to other predominantly Muslim nations. To this point, no NBA players have been affected, though the league did reach out to the State Department to determine how players might be impacted, per Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post.

As Bontemps noted, Milwaukee Bucks forward Thon Maker—who was also born in Sudan but left as a child and possesses an Australian passport—was allowed to return to the United States after the team played in Toronto on Friday night.

Both Maker and Deng should not be affected by the ban since the region of Sudan in which they were born has since become South Sudan. Deng has dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and South Sudan, per Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times.