Union shop stewards at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles are handing out buttons which read ‘Kick ICE Out’ for workers to wear at the venue hosting FIFA’s World Cup match between the United States and Paraguay on Friday night.The Unite Here Local Eleven union represent over 2,000 workers at the venue who largely work in food and beverage concessions, including cooks, dishwashers, servers and bartenders. The Athletic received images of both cooks and bartenders wearing the buttons.The union said the language of their agreement with the stadium operators, Legends Global, permits employees to wear “one (1) official Union button while on duty”.This image has been cropped to protect the anonymity of stadium workers (Image via Unite Here Local Eleven)“The First Amendment doesn’t end when you clock in,” said Kurt Peterson, co-president of the union. “Our members have a right to wear a union button, and this one carries a message they believe in: ICE Out of FIFA.“These workers are hospitality professionals. Their job is to welcome guests and provide world-class service to every fan who walks through the gates. But it’s hard to create a welcoming environment when workers and their communities are living in fear. They’re wearing this button because they want a World Cup that’s safe and welcoming for everyone at SoFi.“No employer, no stadium operator, and not even FIFA gets to take away workers’ voices when it comes to the safety of their families and communities. And from what we’re hearing, fans love the message too. Some are even asking for the buttons.”This image has been cropped to protect the anonymity of stadium workers (Image via Unite Here Local Eleven)The unionized workers voted 96 per cent in favor of authorizing a strike last Friday after several rounds of failed bargaining negotiations with the stadium operators, Legends Global. Following the strike threat, a deal was reached earlier this week, which included a 40 per cent increase in pay for attendants at concessions stands, as well as premium pay for mega-events, including all eight World Cup games”, while they have also negotiated an ongoing contribution to the union’s housing fund which goes towards ensuring more affordable homes for hospitality workers.They also secured a clause in the agreement that permits workers to walk off the job if the union believes that the presence of federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), creates a “reasonable apprehension of harm to the safety and security of workers”.The union has expressed concerns about the role of ICE at the World Cup for several months, with mixed signals coming from the U.S. administration over the extent of their involvement in the tournament, major concerns remain for its members about the potential presence of ICE around World Cup cities and venues this June and July.Lauren Bis, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said it was “steadfast” in its “commitment to the safety and security of the American people and attendees of the 2026 FIFA World Cup”.The statement added: “DHS is intricately involved in the whole of government approach securing the 11 host city sites across the nation, including Los Angeles.“There’s no reason to be afraid of law enforcement, unless you are breaking the law. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S. — full stop.“This is gross. America’s brave ICE agents put their lives on the line every day to enforce U.S. law and arrest criminal illegal aliens — including gang members, rapists, and murderers. The vilification of ICE must stop. This type of rhetoric is contributing to a more than 1300 per cent increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line.“They should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these dangerous criminals—NOT vilifying law enforcement. While these people smear ICE, law enforcement is arresting criminals and saving countless American lives.”This image has been cropped to protect the anonymity of stadium workers (Image via Unite Here Local Eleven)FIFA, who have been approached for comment, do not allow fans to bring “any materials” into World Cup venues that are of a “political” nature. They also expect players and federations to be neutral in matters of politics and religion, according to their statutes.However, FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino has been accused over the past year of breaching this policy due to his relationship with President Donald Trump, by awarded him the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, encouraging people to support Trump in his work and then when he wore a Trump-supporting baseball cap while attending a Trump-led Board of Peace summit.Trump is not due to attend the World Cup match on Friday evening but his administration has representation from a delegation which includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin. ICE raids have been a feature of Trump’s second term, after a campaign which promised mass deportations and more stringent immigration policies.In an interview in April, the union’s co-president Petersen and communications executive Maria Hernandez both said that the presence of ICE is a priority for the union’s members. They say they wanted FIFA to demand that ICE and Customs And Border Protection play “no role in the World Cup”, which has not been forthcoming.“We want ICE out of the games,” said Petersen. “This means the government should not send in ICE to ‘protect’ the games.“The first item that our workers wanted to talk about in bargaining sessions was the presence of ICE. We had a white worker, a black worker, a brown worker all say this is bad for all of us, and we’re standing together and we’re not going to tolerate having ICE in our stadium. One said, ‘It’s not just us; it’s also our guests and clients. It’s people coming to the games. It’s the players’.“It would be a good thing if FIFA came out and said that. It’s hard to imagine, given that (Infantino) handed Trump a peace prize while he’s going to war. People are nervous. Our members are saying, ‘We’re not going to work if ICE are around, because they could scoop us up’.”The role of ICE at the tournament remains hazy. ICE acting director Todd Lyons previously said the organization would play a “key part” in ensuring security during the World Cup. He said ICE’s primary role, as is common at sporting events, would center on Homeland Security investigations, but members of the U.S. Congress have flagged concerns that the involvement of ICE may extend to immigration-enforcement raids close to World Cup events.DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin then told CBS in May that ICE would be focused on counterfeit products, particularly tickets and clothing.He added: “When they’re at these sporting events, we’re not out there doing immigration enforcement,” he said. “But we are looking for, maybe we have people that shouldn’t be in this country because they’re on terrorist watchlists.”Yet when CBS then pressed him on the possibility of immigration enforcement, he said: “Well, ICE always says immigration enforcement. We’re always going to do that. But we’re not there for solely that purpose. We’re in there to do our job. We’re not there to go round up mass individuals, but we are always looking for the worst of the worst. We’re going to continue to do that.”The head of Miami’s host committee Rodney Barreto previously told The Athletic he received assurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio to say ICE would not be present at games, but a State Department spokesperson then followed up to say “safety and security” are the top priorities for the administration.Over the past week, the New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani responded to threats from Tom Homan, the White House border czar to send in “more ICE agents than you’ve ever seen” after the New York governor Kathy Hochul passed legislation which pulled back on some law enforcement arrangements with ICE.Mamdani said “soccer would not exist without immigrants,” and pledged that city officials “will not allow ICE or anyone else to sow fear in our communities”.