Will Trump's goons use soccer matches to meet grisly deportation goals?
The FIFA Club World Cup begins on Saturday, with 32 soccer teams competing in 12 locations across the country in matches that will last nearly a month. That should feel like a terrific lead-in to the 2026 World Cup, which the United States will host along with Canada and Mexico. Instead, the Trump administration is using the tournament as another opportunity to terrorize immigrants.
On Tuesday, Customs and Border Patrol posted on social media that CPB agents would be acting as security for Saturday’s opening match in Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium.
“Let the games begin! The first FIFA Club World Cup games start on June 14th in Miami,” the post read. “CBP will be suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games.”
What a nice, breezy way to make sure immigrants know that not only are they not welcome, but they will also be actively targeted! Of course, because everything this administration does is a shambolic mess, CBP later deleted the post. At the same time, Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told an NBC Miami affiliate that ICE would be there and that non-Americans need to bring proof of their legal status.
So maybe agents will be there, or maybe they won’t. Either way, the Trump administration has already sown the fear it intended.
It wouldn’t be surprising if ICE and CBP saw a soccer game in a city that is 70% Hispanic or Latino, at a stadium holding 64,000 people, as an excellent opportunity to hit their grisly quota. Cadaverous supervillain and Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller has called for 3,000 arrests a day, or 10 times the amount seen during the Biden administration.
The problem for ICE is that there just aren’t enough undocumented people who are murderers and rapists, even though that’s who the president and his minions claimed they were going to round up and deport. Instead, they’re going after soft targets like immigrants looking for work at Home Depot and people showing up for their scheduled immigration hearings. Why wouldn’t they take the opportunity to arrest some folks who just want to see a soccer match? And let’s not forget that the administration thinks soccer tattoos are a sign of gang membership and has used them as a justification for deportation to a supermax security prison in El Salvador.
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ICE could also pull this dodgy move in Los Angeles, as the Rose Bowl is hosting games beginning on Sunday. Since Trump has already illegally deployed the military to terrorize Southern California, it doesn’t seem far-fetched that the administration would see those matches as easy opportunities for more arrests.
This does not bode well for the United States hosting the World Cup in 2026, along with Canada and Mexico. Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance made sure to threaten everyone who is planning to attend from other countries.
“Of course everyone is welcome to come and see this wonderful event. We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the games,” Vance said. “But when the time is up we want them to go home, otherwise they will have to talk to [Homeland Security] Secretary Noem,”
There’s also the problem that Trump’s newest racist travel ban on 12 countries includes Iran, whose team has already qualified for the Cup, and it’s possible other countries on the list could still qualify. The administration has carved out an exception for teams, coaches, and support staff. But fans from those countries? Not so much.
The United States is also hosting the Olympics in 2028, which raises all the same concerns. There’s no doubt that Trump loves the prestige of America hosting these big events, but hates the people who will attend. Trump’s war on immigrants is unworkable if America wants to continue to be part of the global community, and he can’t have it both ways.
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