ICE Is Coming to the World Cup.
What happens when the world's biggest sporting event lands in America's most aggressive immigration enforcement era?
WASHINGTON — The 2026 FIFA World Cup was supposed to be a gift — a 78-match, $10 billion showcase of American hospitality, with MetLife Stadium hosting the final in front of a global audience. What nobody put in the brochure was Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Congress the agency will be a “crucial” part of the tournament’s security framework. He has declined to suspend operations. He has declined to create any formal buffer zones. What he has not declined to do, at least not yet, is allow Enforcement and Removal Operations — ICE’s deportation machinery — to keep running in the same cities where the games will be played.
The numbers are not abstract. ICE arrested at least 92,392 people in and around U.S. World Cup host cities between January 20 and mid-October of the last reporting period, according a report last month by Human Rights Watch. Roughly two-thirds had no U.S. criminal convictions.
The World Cup kicks off in 36 days.
THE DRESS REHEARSAL
Before the 2026 tournament, there was the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup — 32 clubs, U.S. venues only, and a front-row seat to what a World Cup with ICE looks like in practice.
In January, CBP posted a “suited and booted” message to social media touting its security role at opening games, then deleted it after backlash and reported pressure from FIFA. CBP officers showed up at stadiums. CBP officers showed up at a Miami kick-off boat party with FIFA officials, where crew members were questioned about immigration status during what the agency called a routine inspection.
Then, last July 13, ICE arrested an asylum seeker who had attended the Club World Cup final with his children. He had lived in the United States for years. He was removed from the country.
Human Rights Watch called it a signal. Officials called it business as usual. The difference in interpretation is exactly what’s driving the current fight.
THE MATH OF SANCTUARY
Of the 78 matches scheduled for U.S. soil, 67 — more than 85 percent — will be played in cities generally recognized as sanctuary jurisdictions, where local governments limit cooperation with federal immigration detainers.
New York/New Jersey: 8 matches.
Los Angeles: 8.
Dallas: 9.
Houston: 9.
Atlanta: 8.
Boston: 7.
Philadelphia: 6.
Seattle: 6.
San Francisco Bay Area: 6.
The two non-sanctuary hosts are Miami (7 matches) and Kansas City (6 matches) — both in states with legislation actively restricting sanctuary policies.
The sanctuary designations matter, but they are not a firewall. ICE does not need local cooperation to conduct civil immigration enforcement. What the designations create is a political terrain — and in that terrain, advocates say the federal agency has historically pushed harder, not softer, when local jurisdictions push back.
THE BILLS AND THE CAMPAIGN
In March 2026, Rep. Nellie Pou, D-N.J. — whose district includes MetLife Stadium, host of the World Cup final — introduced the Save the World Cup Act, which would prohibit federal funds from being used for immigration enforcement within a defined radius of World Cup venues and FIFA Fan Festivals. Companion legislation from fellow New Jersey Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver would extend those restrictions to public transit hubs and bar federally funded local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement during the tournament period.
Here’s my interview with Pou on March 27:
None of these bills are not expected to move in the current Congress.
Today, a separate campaign went public. “No ICE in the Cup,” spearheaded by the Horizons Project, launched with the backing of civic organizations, faith leaders, labor unions, veterans groups, small businesses, and artists — with a focus on six host cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Miami, and Seattle, plus events in New York City and Los Angeles.
“Soccer has long been a unifying force that transcends borders and backgrounds,” said Julia Roig, Founder and Chief Network Weaver at Horizons Project, “and the World Cup should be a celebration that reflects that spirit of competition and fair play — something we can all rally around.”
Film director and activist Paola Mendoza is co-leading an art commission tied to the campaign. “The violence ICE has inflicted on immigrant communities has left millions of people feeling scared and alone,” Mendoza said, “but this is precisely when artists must get to work.”
THE TRAVEL BAN LAYER
The enforcement fight on the ground is only part of the story. On June 4, 2025, President Trump suspended entry from 19 countries on national security grounds. By December 2025, that list had grown to 39. Both proclamations carve out a narrow exception for athletes, coaches, and essential support staff. Fans, journalists, and family members do not make the cut.
At least four of the 48 qualified national teams — Iran, Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal — come from affected countries. Their players can play. Their supporters may not be able to watch.
WHAT DHS SAYS
U.S. officials insist the federal footprint at the World Cup will look like previous mega-events: Super Bowls, Olympics, Gold Cups. HSI agents focused on trafficking, financial crime, counterfeit merchandise. No stadium raids. DHS has pointed to prior Super Bowl security briefings — in which officials said there were no planned civil immigration operations around the game — as a model for what guardrails might look like in 2026.
What DHS has not done is put any of that in writing.
FIFA, for its part, has reportedly raised concerns internally and pressed CBP to delete at least one social-media post during the Club World Cup. It has not issued public demands. It has not threatened to move matches.
Amnesty International has called the tournament a potential “stage for repression” without enforceable commitments from DHS. Human Rights Watch has urged FIFA to demand explicit written assurances that World Cup events will not be used as enforcement sites — and to revisit 287(g) partnerships with local police in host cities like Dallas, Houston, and Miami.
Nobody has signed anything.
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The World Cup 2026 crash out is as imminent as was Titanic v iceberg in 1912. At least survivors had lifeboats.
With the FIFA Peace Prize winner at the helm, I'm sure everything will go smoothly.