For Haiti, participating in the Soccer World Cup for the first time since 1974 is a source of immense pride. But Emile, a Haitian living in Ohio, is afraid to go to the game because of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
The Haitian national team will open its account at the 2026 edition of football’s marquee international event against Scotland on June 14th at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
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According to government statistics, the state is home to 87,000 Haitians, making it one of the states with the largest diaspora population in the United States.
All three of Haiti’s group stage games were played in the United States, with the game against Brazil in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Morocco in Atlanta, Georgia, concluding the first stage.
“Singing for your country in a stadium in front of the whole world is a historic moment that no one wants to miss,” Emir, a truck driver in his 40s who did not want to give his last name, told AFP.
“But at the same time, I thought about it. I don’t want to get arrested by ICE,” he said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tasked with arresting and deporting illegal aliens.
“My lawyer advised me not to get on the plane so I wouldn’t get caught at the airport,” he said.
Emile’s concerns are shared by many in the immigrant community who have seen heavily armed and masked ICE agents carry out often brutal operations in several U.S. cities.
Anger reached a peak when ICE agents shot and killed two American protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“It seems like people are now realizing what they’re doing and not feeling safe,” Monica Sarmiento of the Virginia Immigrant Rights Coalition told AFP.
“They’re afraid. We’ve seen very aggressive tactics[by ICE]targeting not only the undocumented community but also the people in their custody.”
“70% of those arrested, detained and deported have no criminal record,” Sarmiento said.
“Many of them have lived here for decades and have been paying taxes for decades,” she added, blaming “the fear and hostile environment across the country, not just for the World Cup, but every day.”
The biggest concern for the World Cup is ICE and tickets.
Seventy-eight of the 104 World Cup matches will be held in the United States, with Canada and Mexico co-hosting the tournament from June 11 to July 19.
The possibility of ICE activity centered around U.S. games has raised concerns among the Hispanic community. The Hispanic community makes up 20 percent of the U.S. population and is concentrated in California, Texas, and Florida, with large representation in major cities such as Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York.
Beyond Massachusetts’ demographics, the Haitian community, numbering approximately 850,000 people in 2024, mostly concentrated in Miami and New York, also felt threatened.
The Trump administration wants to eliminate the temporary protected status that Emile and others benefit from. This will prevent their deportation to their home country, one of the world’s poorest countries and devastated by political instability, economic crisis and gang violence.
Concerns have been heightened by Human Rights Watch’s report that an asylum seeker who attended last year’s Club World Cup final in New Jersey with his children was arrested by ICE and deported to his country of origin.
Some rights groups fear that ICE will target foreign tourists around stadiums and the numerous fan zones where supporters gather.
More than 120 U.S. civil rights organizations, including the influential American Civil Liberties Union, issued a “travel advisory” in April, warning fans, athletes, journalists and other visitors of the “risk of serious rights violations.”
According to the signatories, while in or in ICE custody, travelers to the United States may be at risk of denial of entry, arrest, detention and/or deportation, racial profiling, and even “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and even death.”
ICE, one of many agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has long participated in providing security for major sporting events such as the Super Bowl.
“International visitors coming to the United States legally for the World Cup have nothing to worry about,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told AFP.
“The reason someone is subject to immigration enforcement is whether or not they are in the United States illegally.”
In Los Angeles, California, workers at the world’s most expensive sports stadium say ICE’s presence will create a climate of fear for them and their fans.
As a result, UNITE HERE Local 11, the union representing about 2,000 hospitality workers, has decided to go on strike if federal immigration agents are stationed at the city’s SoFi Stadium for World Cup games.
“ICE should not be involved in these games,” stadium chef Isaac Martinez said at a protest outside the venue.
“We don’t want to live our lives afraid to go to work or afraid to be detained when we get home.”
Fellow stadium official Yolanda Fierro added: “We ask FIFA not to share our information with ICE agencies, foreign countries or intelligence agencies.”
FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, said it was “committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights and seeks to promote the protection of these rights.”
The Haitian side’s concerns ahead of the tournament extend to their participation in the World Cup being canceled along with many of their fans hoping to attend.
Haiti’s season opener will be their fourth appearance in Foxborough, including a draw and loss against the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The average number of spectators was over 30,000.
In 2011, the Haitian Olympic team drew a crowd of 11,513 to an Earthquake Relief Fund benefit game at Harvard Stadium. That was at least 3,000 more people than the crowd at the New England Revolution’s Major League Soccer (MLS) game at Gillette Stadium the night before.
Julio Midi, founder of Boston-based Radio Concorde, which serves the local Haitian community, said in a recent interview with Al Jazeera that the World Cup is also being alienated from fans in the country due to pricing.
“Tickets are very expensive and unfortunately we (the Haitian diaspora) cannot afford it,” he said.
The cheapest seats on general sale for overseas fans attending the 2022 World Cup opener against Qatar are $302, up from $220 in Russia. By comparison, FIFA’s December ticket sales list prices for the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12 as $1,120, $1,940 and $2,735.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended the high ticket prices for this year’s World Cup, saying the tournament is FIFA’s only source of income once every four years.
He also reiterated that FIFA is a non-profit organization with 211 member countries and is supported by the revenue FIFA generates from such tournaments.
