SoCalHoops High School News

Clovis West's Charlie Rodriguez Stuck
In Dominican, Visa Denied--(Aug. 30, 2000)

We awoke this morning to a headline in the Fresno Bee which screamed "Clovis West's Rodriguez Denied Visa"  and a second page which read "Rodriguez: CW standout stuck at home."   However, when we clicked on the story, there was just one problem. . . .there was no link, and thus no story.

Finally we contacted the Bee and asked them if they would be kind enough to either post the link to the story on their site, or alternatively, either e-mail the story to us or fax it so that we could share it with those who have followed the high school career of Rodriguez and his senior teammate, Stanford-commit Chris Hernandez (6'-2" Sr. PG).   Well, one of our friends finally e-mailed the story, but we got swamped with phone calls and other business  which delayed our posting the story up until now, but better late than never.

Just to summarize:  After playing for the Pump N Run team this past summer with his teammate Hernandez, Rodriguez left the United States and returned to the Dominican Republic to visit with his family there.  However, upon his attempted return to the US, he was denied a travel visa, and thus remains stuck there until things can be worked out with the US State Department. 

Second, but perhaps equally important, even if Rodriguez is allowed to return to the US to live with his legal guardians, the Knowltons (the parents of former Clovis West point guard Ash Knowlton who is attending college and playing at Portland State), he has likely lost a year of eligibility and will only be permitted to play one more year of high school basketball.  According to the story below (and information that we've been able to piece together from our friends in the Central Section), when the Artesia investigation hit, leading to revelations about the visa status and immigration entry into the US by other Dominicans like Jack Martinez and Amaury Fernandez, the Central Section of the CIF was also beseiged with demands for an investigation into the status of Rodriguez, and after conducting such an investigation, the CIF Central Section determined that Rodriguez had enrolled as a 9th grader (a freshman in high school) down in the Dominican prior to enrolling at Clovis West.  In other words, his 4-year consecutive clock had already started to run down in the Dominican, and when he enrolled as a freshman at Clovis West, he had already used a year of eligibility, and thus had only three remaining.  Rodriguez has already used two of those three years, and thus would have only this year remaining to play in California.   Rodriguez, however, is academically only a junior, and thus would have one more year after this season in order to graduate and be eligible to attend a Division I university or college.

In any event, that's the shorthand version of the story.   The Bee story sheds some additional information on the subject.  Here it is, written by Lisa Burnett:

Clovis West's Rodriguez denied visa

By LISA BURNETT
THE FRESNO BEE

Ann Knowlton is baffled.  Vance Walberg is hopeful.   And Charlie Rodriguez is still more than 3,000 miles away.

As his teammates and classmates at Clovis West High returned to school Monday, Rodriguez, a standout  basketball player, remained at home in the Dominican Republic.  He was denied a new visa after his expired Aug. 3.

Knowlton, who along with her husband Steve, became Rodriguez's legal guardians when he came to Fresno two years ago, said the U.S. State Department told Rodriguez he needed a letter from Clovis West saying he was enrolled in school.  Knowlton said Rodriguez presented that letter to the visa office, but was denied.

Efforts to contact the State Department were unsuccessful.   According to the State Department's Web site, foreign students attending a U.S. public high school on a studen tvisa are limited ot 12 months and "must submit evidence that the local school district has been reimbursed in advance for the unsubsidized per capita cost of the education."

But, Knowlton said, "I thought it very strange. . . It was their office that granted him a visa two years in a rwo with no problem.

"He's just done every single thing anyone expected of him.  And we're his full support, so it's not like he's a drain on the community."

"I'm a little bit embarrassed to be an American right now," Knowlton said.

Knowlton said Rodriguez, who returned to the Dominican Republic on July 25 for a monthlong visit with his family, is deeply saddened by the situaiton and sometimes cries during phone conversatinos.  He had planned to return to Fresno last Friday.

"Really, his only opportunity to get an education is to be here," Knowlton said.  "He just has such an opportunity to graduate college, an dthere, that's not an option.  He wil not go to college there."

She said a team of lawyers was advising the family, and everyone is hopeful Rodriguez will be allowed to return.

Veteran basketball coach Walberg said the Golden Eagles also are hopeful.

"We're hoping and waiting for Charlie to come," Walberg said.

Should Rodriguez be allowed to return, he woul have just one year of athletic eligibility left instead of two, according to Central Sectino commissioner Jerry Laird.

The California Interscholastic Federation ruled that Rodriguez had completed a year of secondary educatino before arriving at Clovis West in 1998, making him a senior by athletic standards even though he [did] not play sports during that first year.

"They don't really have athletics in school down there, so that's not the issue," Laid said.  "Once you enroll in high school, the calendar or clock begins, and you have eight consecutive semesters to complete your eligibility."

Rodriguez, who was identified as an incoming freshman and enrolled in freshman courses by Clovis West when he arrived in 1998, would be a junior by academic standards.

"He would be a junior, but he'd probably just have one year of basketball," Knowlton said.  "But he would go ahead and complete his senior year and go on to college, because that's his goal, to graduate college."

Before returning to the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez was a summer camp star, highlighted by an underclass co-MVP award at the adidas/ABCD camp in New Jersey in early July.

 
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