When Didier Deschamps mentions “unheard-of checks” at American airports, while being part of an official delegation and not on the Trump administration’s radar, it raises concerns for many supporters planning to travel to the United States next summer. This is also the alert raised by the NGO Amnesty International, which warns on Monday of “serious risks” faced by certain populations in the United States, “at the center of a human rights crisis”, three months before the World Cup.
This “crisis” is “marked by discriminatory immigration policies, mass detentions, and arbitrary arrests by masked and armed agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies,” accuses Amnesty in a report entitled “Humanity must prevail.”
“Despite the staggering number of arrests and deportations, neither FIFA nor the (American) authorities have provided guarantees that fans and local populations will be protected from ethnic and racial profiling, blind raids, and illegal detentions and deportations,” notes Steve Cockburn, director of Amnesty International’s Economic and Social Justice program, cited in the press release.
Concerns also for LGBTQI+ groups
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, will bring together 48 teams, with 78 of the 104 matches scheduled in the United States. Countries like Iran, Senegal, or Ivory Coast may not be able to rely on their supporters due to travel bans imposed by the Trump administration, which has made anti-immigration policies the centerpiece of its second term.
Other football fans are exposed to “intrusive surveillance” of their social networks, for the purpose of “searching for anti-American content,” according to the NGO. Moreover, “members of LGBTQI+ groups in the UK and Europe have declared that it is dangerous for their presence to be visible during the tournament,” reports the human rights organization, which is also concerned about restrictions on the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression in Mexico and Canada.
All about the 2026 World Cup
“Only 10 weeks before the start of the World Cup, FIFA’s commitment to organizing a tournament in which everyone will “feel safe, included, and free to exercise their rights” requires urgent action to prevent this beautiful competition from ending in an unfortunate outcome,” warns Amnesty.
