World Cup 2026: US gives no assurances immigration agents won’t raid stadiums

The man leading the White House Fifa World Cup 2026 Task Force made it clear on Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot guarantee non-US citizens will be safe from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at stadiums.

The US, alongside Canada and Mexico, is set to host the world's biggest sporting event in June and July next year. 

Federal coordination for the World Cup has been assigned to Andrew Giuliani, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, and the son of Trump's former lawyer and New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani. 

At a press briefing with members of the foreign press corps, Andrew was pressed on fears among non-US citizens that ICE will carry out detention and deportation raids during the games, anywhere that fans may gather. 

"We're having continuous conversation with this," he responded. "The one thing [is], I've known the president for 25 years. The president does not rule out anything that will help make American citizens safer."

In July, a father of two young children was arrested by ICE at a Fifa Club World Cup game in New Jersey. Human Rights Watch issued a statement at the time calling for "immediate action to address US policies that create risk and threaten FIFA’s ability to uphold its stated values of human rights, inclusion, and global participation". 

Andrew said the arrest was because the man flew a drone to take a family photo.

"There'll be zero tolerance for people flying their drones around these stadiums during these games, because we understand that we need to protect not just the physical barriers in there," he said. "You think about vehicle ramming, as we've seen, as a copycat event, but also against potential aerial issues as well." 

Widespread fear

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has boasted of forcibly removing half a million people from the US in the past 10 months since Trump took office, with another 1.6 million "self-deporting" largely out of fear. 

Trump's presidential campaign for his second term had promised a crackdown on "violent criminals" among those who entered the US illegally, mostly through the southern border. 

But within his first few weeks in office, almost everyone who is undocumented or in the middle of an immigration process became a potential target.

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There are an estimated 15 million undocumented people in the US, though many have work permits or are in a years-long queue to appear before an immigration judge. 

International students, visitors, and immigrants have been detained - sometimes violently - and placed into detention centres to await deportation.

Border agents and the administration began pointing to factors far removed from violent crime among people with legal paperwork: personal marijuana use; traffic violations; criticism of Israel; and even things like a bounced cheque for less than $50 from decades prior, leading many to question what exactly constitutes "illegal" activity.

"If you apply for your visa, and you get your visa here legally, and let's say you don't do anything illegal while you're here in the United States, then you're going to have an unbelievable experience," Andrew told reporters.

Wait times for a US visa appointment for most nations whose teams have qualified for the World Cup are down to just a 60-day wait from what used to be more than a year in some cases, Andrew said.

And while the Department of State has bulked up staffing to make this possible, the actual vetting process has not changed, Andrew said. While he declined to comment specifically on the screening of social media accounts, visa applicants and visa waiver visitors to the US should expect that to happen, given the broader orders issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this year. 

Those lucky enough to obtain tickets to US-hosted matches through Fifa's lottery system, which began in September, will be eligible for an expedited visa process, Rubio said last month. 

But he also warned that a ticket and an expedited process do not mean a visa approval, and perhaps more importantly, that a visa approval does not guarantee actual entry into the US. 

All international arrivals at US crossings and airports must be assessed by a border agent, who will have the final say. In some cases, airports abroad have US pre-clearance agents who can make that determination before a traveller boards their flight. 

Travel ban

Since the shooting of two members of the National Guard by an Afghan national last week, Trump has frozen all immigration applications from the 19 countries on the travel ban he announced earlier this year. 

There had previously been some carveouts for family reunification and other categories. 

The executive order targeted 12 countries: Afghanistan; Burma; Chad; the Republic of the Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Haiti; Iran; Libya; Somalia; Sudan; and Yemen.

Additionally, nationals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela were partially restricted. 

"There are exemptions for the Haitian [and] Iranian team, and direct support staff, and I believe immediate family in the president's executive order," Andrew said of the two countries on the travel ban list who have qualified for the World Cup. 

Last week, Iran’s football federation announced it would boycott the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, DC, after the US refused to issue visas for most of its delegation.

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The draw is set to take place on Friday at the John F Kennedy Performing Arts Center. 

“The Iranian delegation will not be present for the World Cup draw in relation to the latest status of issuing visas for the Iranian delegation to attend the draw ceremony,” federation spokesperson Amir Mehdi Alavi said, as quoted by the Iranian sports news website, Tarafdari.

“Given that the decisions taken are unsportsmanlike and the path has deviated from the sporting process, it was decided that the Iranian delegation will not attend the draw ceremony,” he added. 

Andrew confirmed the partial visa approval.

"Part of the delegation got approved, and part of the delegation did not get approved. And so I'll just go back to the simple saying that every single decision is a national security decision, and it's the president's goal, first and foremost every day, to make sure that he cannot just protect American citizens that are here, but all of those [here] for the World Cup," he told reporters. 

"If you are a potential threat, you're not going to get approved. If you're not, if you're coming here to enjoy, spend disposable income, enjoy the United States of America, you're welcome." 

As for insisting that the US is open to international visitors while the president himself openly insults countries like Somalia by calling them "garbage", Andrew said Trump's appeal is due to the fact that he is "completely honest".

"I think the president has a unique style. I think it's why he's such an effective leader," he said.

"It's one that not just brought him back into the White House... [but] why he's somebody who's able to make peace deals that other presidents in past times could not even think possible," Andrew added.

"He's a New Yorker like me. Sometimes we say things that you know are a little different than polished politicians."