FIFA might have given President Donald Trump his own golden participation trophy after the Nobel Peace Prize he so covets went to Venezuelan activist Maria Machado, but that hasn’t stopped his administration’s plans to station ICE agents at upcoming World Cup matches.
According to a recent interview with new Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin, the widely despised agents will be carrying out business as usual at stadiums across the country.
“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,” Mullin told CBS on Tuesday. “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.”
Targeting the “worst of the worst” was messaging used by Trump and his lackeys on the 2024 campaign trail and early on in his mass deportation push. But public perception quickly shifted as more information surfaced surrounding who was being detained by immigration agents.
Despite claiming to target criminals, reports quickly flooded in of agents arresting college students, veterans, military wives, working families, and more.
With the international soccer tournament set to kick off in June, the conversation around immigrants—both living in and visiting the U.S.—has been front and center.
And while the World Cup promised an economic boom in the 11 U.S. cities scheduled to host matches, that hasn’t materialized either.
Related | Will Trump’s goons use soccer matches to meet grisly deportation goals?
As a matter of fact, hotel operators in major cities have reported that booking is actually below typical levels for the upcoming summer season. The American Hotel & Lodging Association, according to the Associated Press, speculated that the U.S.’s hostile treatment of immigrants has impacted travel plans.
In April, Amnesty International joined other civil and human rights groups in issuing a World Cup travel advisory.
According to AP, the groups released this warning “in light of the deteriorating human rights situation in the United States and in the absence of meaningful action and concrete guarantees from FIFA, host cities, or the U.S. government.”
Deportations hit the 600,000 mark in October 2025, according to White House reports released at the time. But that push included a slew of human rights violations, deaths of people in custody, and the deportation of legal U.S. residents.
ICE’s popularity has been waning since Trump took office and tasked the agency with carrying out his sweeping anti-immigrant agenda.
Celebrities have used their platform to speak out against the agency’s tactics, while lawmakers have called for more accountability or outright abolishing the department altogether. Some states have sought to ban ICE agents’ use of masks, and others have attempted to make it so that these agents can actually be sued for their actions.
As it stands, ICE agents have immunity.
This antipathy for ICE isn’t just felt by the protesters Trump has labeled as “terrorists.” Members of the GOP have also backed out of supporting the mission behind ICE as more agents have harmed, hurt, and even killed immigrants and citizens alike.
The Trump administration has even toyed with rebranding ICE as “NICE,” or National Immigration Customs Enforcement, in an apparent effort to sway public opinion.
Too bad this public relations push is falling flat in the U.S.—and in other countries around the world.
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