If there’s a bigger surprise from this World Cup than Paraguay knocking out Germany, it may be that Donald Trump has so far behaved himself and the worst fears about this year’s tournament have not (yet) been realised.
There have been no obvious efforts by Trump’s Border Patrol or their Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) colleagues to arrest fans and deport them. If agents have been monitoring the stadiums or the fan zones, as was threatened, their actions have been so discreet as to go unnoticed.
In the first nine months of 2025, ICE rounded up 92,392 people in and around the 11 American cities that are hosting World Cup matches, Human Rights Watch claims. Those efforts by ICE and the Border Patrol are now intensifying in cities across the country, with at least 10,000 people detained in the past five days. The White House is reportedly demanding 2,000 arrests in cities across the country, portending a further uptick ahead. But there is no indication that the operation is targeting spectators at the Fifa tournament as originally feared.
Shorts
There have, of course, been moments of embarrassment: a Somali referee and an Iraqi team photographer turned away from American airports, Iraqi forward Aymen Hussein detained for several hours while immigration officials in Chicago examined his mobile phone and dozens of Moroccan supporters denied visas after buying match tickets. Predictably, the Iranian team was also treated abysmally on White House orders.
