Charles Barkley began a heated tirade against the “travesty” occurring in the United States after he had a few things to say about the country’s current immigration policies.
Before their Elite Eight matchup with Duke, the incident occurred during a piece about UCONN standout Alex Karaban and his family, who emigrated to the United States from Belarus and Ukraine in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
Following the feature, Barkley expressed his respect for Karaban and his family while acknowledging that immigration is a “very touchy subject” for him.
He stated:
“The way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace,”
“I think there’s a difference between amazing immigrants and criminal immigrants, and I think what’s going on in our country, what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants, is really unfortunate and it’s really sad.”
“That’s a great immigrant story … but some of the stuff happening to immigrants in our country right now is really unfortunate and is really unfair, but immigrants built this country, and we should admire them and respect them.”
The encounter with the renowned hooper follows the weekend’s “No King” demonstrations, in which protesters denounced President Donald Trump’s policies.
One of the key components of Trump’s campaign and a key factor in his victory in the 2024 election was immigration enforcement.
