The shadow of ICE worries and keeps fans away from World Cup games
The nominated photograph of "Separated by ICE", which won the 2026 Image of the Year award from World Press Photo.
Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald/World Press Photo 2026 via BBC
A few days before the World Cup, the actions of agents from the Immigration and Borders Service, ICE, in the 11 cities hosting the games in the USA worry foreign fans and human rights organizations.
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More than 120 groups have issued a travel warning aimed at 10 million visitors about violations of immigrant rights, although authorities, including the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, assure that the feared ICE agents will not operate inside stadiums.
The issue carries a traumatic weight, given the violence of anti-immigration operations launched in the second term of the Trump administration. According to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, 65% of Americans oppose the presence of ICE agents in states during the tournament, which begins next Thursday and will feature 78 of the 104 matches in the US. custody of ICE.
Groups spread across host cities organize campaigns and joint efforts to protect fans. In Dallas, Texas, the DFW Movement distributes hundreds of whistle kits to alert the presence of agents.
In the USA, the Trump administration sends ICE agents to airports across the country
In Los Angeles, which will host eight World Cup games, a union representing two thousand employees at SoFi Stadium threatened to go on strike if ICE agents were sent there. The fear is that, as the vast majority of its workers are foreigners, it would be ICE's first target.
The high price of tickets keeps the Haitian community in Massachusetts away from the stadiums, in their team's first participation in the World Cup. But crowd gatherings around the matches also raise concerns in the country's largest diaspora, which comprises around 87,000 Haitians.
The NGOs Human Rights Watch, Sport and Rights Alliance and Dignity 2026 called for a truce from ICE, with the suspension of inspection operations during the tournament, inspired by the Olympic truce.
"FIFA should revive the practices of Ancient Greece and insist on a truce with ICE to ensure that federal agents do not carry out violent immigration enforcement actions in and around World Cup venues. Arrests and deportations that violate human rights have no place in the global game," ponders Micky Worden, director of Global Initiatives at HRW.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed the active presence of FIFA agents. ICE in all games, but noted that its objective is to combat "counterfeit tickets, human trafficking, drug smuggling and counterfeit products."
But the skepticism of those accustomed to the brutality of masked agents to intimidate and arrest immigrants casts doubt on their statements.
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Source: G1