Activists: FIFA should protect World Cup attendees from immigration enforcement
About a dozen activists gathered on the sidewalk outside the gold-toned metal spirals that embellish the main entrance of FIFA's new legal and compliance division office, holding signs reading 'FIFA, eyes on the ball, ICE off the field!' and 'FIFA, the world is watching!'
Speakers said recent actions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials had provoked increasing concern over the safety of local residents attending the Club World Cup games this summer at Hard Rock Stadium. The stadium will also host seven World Cup matches next year.
'We've long been concerned about ICE at sporting events under this administration, but our concerns have been heightened by irresponsible statements from ICE and CBP,' said Thomas Kennedy, an immigrant rights advocate with the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Kennedy highlighted a June 10 post by Customs and Border Protection on social media site X that said the federal law enforcement agency would be 'suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games.'
The post was later deleted but not before arousing the concern of immigration rights groups in South Florida. The same day, NBC Miami reported that ICE had advised, in a statement regarding enforcement at Club World Cup games, that 'all non-American citizens need to carry proof of their legal status.'
When asked to clarify, ICE told the Miami Herald: 'As is customary for an event of this magnitude with national security implications, ICE will be working alongside our Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice partners to help ensure the safety and security of the event.'
The following night, on June 11, a celebration of the upcoming World Cup hosted by Spanish-language television network Telemundo aboard a boat in Biscayne Bay was abruptly canceled following a surprise inspection by the Coast Guard, alongside at least one border patrol agent. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who was aboard the boat at the time, said in a statement that the inspection was 'deeply troubling' and 'should not have happened.' Coast Guard spokesperson Chief Petty Officer Nicole Groll told the Herald that the inspection 'was not a targeted immigration thing.'
On Monday, Kennedy told the crowd outside FIFA's offices that his group had confirmed that federal immigration agents had been present at recent Club World Cup games. But Kennedy said his organization had not witnessed immigration agents at the games indiscriminately detaining attendees or demanding they provide proof of residency.
'FIFA has an opportunity to use the power of the game and culture to help us meet this moment,' said Laura Muñoz, the civic engagement director for the Florida Student Power Network. 'Soccer has the power to bring us together, and that's what we need the most right now — that's what we're asking for FIFA to do.'
Muñoz told the press conference that FIFA needed to recognize that many of Miami's soccer fans were staying home and out of the bleachers because of fear over immigration enforcement.
'Especially for undocumented youth, they can't feel safe going to a game,' Muñoz said. 'This situation has gotten out of hand.'
FIFA did not provide a formal response to the press conference as of late Monday, but a June 17 press release from the organization highlighted the 'record crowds and unmatched passion' of the matches at Hard Rock Stadium. The statement also said fans from over 130 countries had purchased tickets, traveling from across the globe to attend the games.
'FIFA is proud of the unique and multicultural atmosphere and support this new competition has already generated,' FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in the statement. 'FIFA Club World Cup continues to grow into the undisputed pinnacle of global club football.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trans swimmer Lia Thomas stripped of medals after Trump crackdown
A transgender swimmer's medals are to be stripped, the University of Pennsylvania has agreed. The university will also have to issue formal apologies to every biological female competitor who lost out to a biological male, marking the end to a landmark legal battle. The US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found UPenn violated Title IX by 'allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities'. The case focused on Lia Thomas, who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022, as the first transgender winner of an American collegiate title. The move comes as part of the Trump administration's broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports. Under the agreement, UPenn agreed to restore all individual Division I swimming records and titles to female athletes who lost out to Thomas, the Education Department said. The University of Pennsylvania also agreed to send a personalised apology letter to each of those swimmers. 'The department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX's proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,' Linda McMahon, the education secretary, said. The Education Department opened its investigation in February and concluded in April that Penn had violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination in education. Such findings have almost always been resolved through voluntary agreements. If Penn had fought the finding, the department could have moved to refer the case to the Justice Department or pursued a separate process to cut the school's federal funding. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Washington Post
38 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Mamdani on Trump's deportation threat: We won't ‘accept this intimidation'
After President Donald Trump threatened to have Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected Democratic nominee for New York mayor, deported if he blocks Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in New York, Mamdani responded forcefully. 'The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city,' Mamdani said in a statement.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Government attempts to deport stateless Palestinian woman again
The federal government attempted to deport a stateless Palestinian woman on Monday for the second time, despite a court order barring her removal from a Texas district, according to court documents. The attempted deportation also came just days after the first stage of her green card application was approved, her husband Taahir Shaikh told ABC News, opening up a potential pathway for her to obtain permanent residency. Ward Sakeik -- a 22-year-old who is married to a U.S. citizen -- was detained by the government in February on her way home from her honeymoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Sakeik's family is from Gaza, but she is legally stateless and has lived in the U.S. since she was 8 years old. Her family had traveled to the U.S. on a tourist visa and applied for asylum, according to Shaikh. MORE: Newlywed bride's honeymoon ends with months of ICE detention and the prospect of deportation Sakeik was issued a deportation order more than a decade ago after her asylum case was denied, but she was permitted to stay in the U.S. under what's known as an "order of supervision," in which she was given a work permit and regularly checks in with federal immigration authorities, according to her attorney and her husband. After being detained in February, the government attempted to deport her once before. But last month, after that attempt, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in the Northern District of Dallas issued an order on June 22 barring the government from deporting Sakeik or removing her from the Texas district where she is being held as her legal case plays out. MORE: Newlywed bride's honeymoon ends with months of ICE detention and the prospect of deportation However, Sakeik told her attorney that she was awakened early Monday by an officer who told her that "she had to leave" and that she was being removed from Prairieland Detention Facility outside Dallas, Sakeik's attorney Eric Lee wrote in a court filing on Monday. "Sakeik informed me that when she arrived at intake, her belongings had been placed outside the door" and buses "were waiting outside to take her away," Lee wrote. "She was informed by officers that her departure from the facility was imminent." Sakeik told Lee that she attempted to tell at least one officer about the judge's order barring the government from moving her out of the Northern District of Texas but was told "it's not up to me," according to court documents filed by her attorneys. Sakeik was not able to contact her husband or attorneys Monday morning and Shaikh only discovered the government was attempting to remove her when another detainee called him and told him, he said. Shaikh and Sakeik's attorneys made a number of calls to Immigration and Customs Enforcement informing "multiple officers" of the order in place, her lawyers wrote in court documents. ICE officers told Sakeik's attorney that she would be placed on a flight scheduled to depart the facility but Sakeik and her attorneys were not informed where she was being taken, according to court documents. MORE: Mahmoud Khalil thanks supporters after release, vows to continue advocating for Palestinians At one point, as her attorney attempted to inform a detention facility supervisor about the judge's order, the supervisor said "she did not want to know about any court order, and then hung up before I could ask any additional questions," Sakeik's attorneys Hiba Ghalib and Lee wrote in court documents. After emailing the U.S. Attorney's Office about the attempt to remove her, Sakeik's attorneys received a response -- over 15 minutes after the flight's scheduled departure time -- that they were "looking into the matter and that the court's order would not be violated," according to court documents. Over an hour after the flight's scheduled departure time, an officer at Prairieland told Lee that "the notes in Ms. Sakeik's file indicated that there was a removal attempt [Monday]," according to court documents. Other detainees were also slated to be removed from the facility as well, including at least one individual who had been brought onto a tarmac with Sakeik in June, according to court documents. Last month, before the judge had issued his order, the government also attempted to deport Sakeik without informing her where she was being sent, her husband said. Sakeik told her husband an ICE officer told her she would be taken to the Israel border. After waiting at an airport for two hours, she was returned to the Prairieland Detention Center. She later found out this attempt to deport her was just hours before Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, Shaikh said. Asked about the attempt to remove Sakeik on Monday, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told ABC News again that she is in the country "illegally," sending ABC News the same statement it provided about her case last month. That statement read, in part, "The arrest of Ward Sakeik was not part of a targeted operation by ICE. She chose to leave the country and was then flagged by [Customs and Border Patrol] trying to reenter the U.S.," Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said. When ABC News asked if the government's stance was that travel to the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory, constitutes someone choosing to "leave the country," DHS provided an updated statement. "She chose to fly over international waters and outside the U.S. customs zone and was then flagged by CBP trying to reenter the continental U.S.," McLaughlin said in a second statement. "She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade," McLaughlin said in the statement. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S." DHS did not acknowledge the judge's order barring Sakeik's removal from Texas or that she was previously under an order of supervision.
