Hours before the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team beat Australia in its second group stage match at the World Cup, the Department of Homeland Security took to social media platform X to support the American squad.
The government agency posted a photo of striker Folarin Balogun, flanked by teammates Sergiño Dest and Chris Richards, on the field at SoFi Stadium before a cheering crowd of fans. Superimposed at the top, in big, bold letters, was the phrase “Defend The Homeland,” with a smaller tagline that read, “One Nation. One Homeland. One Team.”
Balogun has been one of the early stars of the World Cup, minted by a two-goal performance in the USMNT’s opening match against Paraguay. Yet there was more than a hint of irony in the use of his image in DHS’s post, considering the circumstances of his American citizenship are representative of a policy that the Trump administration has attempted to eliminate.
Balogun was born 25 years ago in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Nigerian parents who were living in London at the time, after airline staff reportedly refused to let his then-seven-months-pregnant mother fly home from a trip to New York City. Under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, anyone born on U.S. soil is granted citizenship, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
