Haiti’s first World Cup appearance since 1974 is a source of immense national pride, but Emile, a Haitian living in Ohio, is afraid to attend a match because of US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“Singing my country’s national anthem in a stadium in front of the whole world is a historic moment that no one would want to miss,” said the truck driver, who did not wish to give his last name.
“But at the same time, I think twice. I don’t want to be arrested by ICE,” he said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers given a broad mandate and tasked with arresting and deporting undocumented foreign nationals.
Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
“My lawyer advised me not to fly so I don’t get caught at the airport,” he said.
Emile’s concerns are echoed throughout the immigrant community, who have watched heavily armed, masked ICE officers carry out their often-brutal and heavy-handed operations in multiple US cities.
Outrage peaked when ICE officers shot two American demonstrators dead in Minneapolis.
“Now, people are making sure that they are aware to what they are doing and they don’t feel safe,” Monica Sarmiento of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights said.
“They are afraid. We have seen very aggressive tactics [from ICE] that have gone after not only undocumented communities but also people with protective status.”
Sarmiento said that “70 percent of the people arrested, detained and deported have no criminal record.”
“Many of them have been here for decades, paying taxes for decades,” she added, condemning “a fearful and hostile environment across the country, and not only for the World Cup but every single day.”
The US is hosting 74 of the 104 World Cup matches, co-hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico.
The possibility of ICE activity around US matches has fanned worries among the US Hispanic community, which makes up 20 percent of the US population and is concentrated in California, Texas and Florida with significant representation in major cities such as Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York.
The Haitian community, about 850,000 people in 2024, largely concentrated in Miami and New York, is under threat.
The Trump administration wants to end the temporary protected status from which Emile and others benefit. It prevents their deportation to their home country, one of the poorest in the world and one ravaged by political instability, economic crisis and gang violence.
Fears have been stoked by reports such as one from Human Rights Watch, which said an asylum seeker who attended the Club World Cup final last year in New Jersey with his children was arrested by ICE and deported to his country of origin.
Human rights organizations worry that ICE would target foreign tourists around stadiums or in the numerous fan zones where supporters gather.
More than 120 US civil rights organizations, including the influential American Civil Liberties Union, issued a “travel advisory” in April warning of the “risk of serious rights violations” to fans, players, journalists and other visitors.
According to the signatories, people travelling to the US risk denial of entry and risk of arrest, detention or deportation, racial profiling and “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment — and even death — while in ICE detention or custody”.
ICE, one of many agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has long taken part in security arrangements for major sporting events such as the NFL Super Bowl.
“International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about,” a DHS spokesperson said. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the US.”
When asked, soccer’s global governing body FIFA said it “is committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights and strives to promote the protection of these rights.”
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