Senior FIFA management have discussed with the organisation’s president, Gianni Infantino, the possibility of him making a direct request to President Donald Trump for a full moratorium on ICE raids across the United States during the World Cup this summer.
Since returning to power for a second term in January 2025, Trump has sought to implement his campaign promise of mass deportation, which has featured concentrated incursions into American cities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. This led to deadly clashes between ICE agents and protestors opposed to the clampdown, including the killings of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti when ICE agents swarmed Minnesota earlier this year.
Figures reported by the Washington Post, citing ICE’s own data, said officials arrested about 1,000 people per day in the six weeks after Pretti was killed on January 24, and 42 per cent of those had no criminal record.
The questions about ICE’s role in this World Cup have stalked FIFA ever since Trump regained power. ICE acting director, Todd Lyons, previously said the organization would play a “key part” in ensuring security during the World Cup. He said ICE’s primary role, as is common at sporting events, would center on Homeland Security investigations, but labor unions and members of the U.S. Congress have raised concerns the involvement of ICE may extend to immigration-enforcement raids close to World Cup events.
Some of FIFA’s member federations, particularly European nations, also privately relayed concerns to the global governing body from their fans about potential ICE activity during the tournament.
FIFA was alerted to human rights complaints by fans during the Club World Cup last summer, which included alleged sightings of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and ICE officials at stadiums during the tournament. In a previous statement to The Athletic, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson denied that ICE and CBP conducted enforcement, describing it as “another case of fear-mongering.”
Infantino has struck up a seemingly close bond with Trump. He attended his pre-inauguration rally, wearing a red tie, and Trump’s inauguration, as well as making several appearances in the Oval Office, attending Trump’s Board of Peace meetings and this weekend he posted a photo on Instagram alongside Trump at a UFC event in Miami. Infantino has also opened a FIFA office in Trump Tower in New York City and awarded Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize in December, shortly after Trump had been overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize.
This has led some senior executives within FIFA to believe Infantino may be able to use his friendship with Trump as leverage to secure key policy adjustments to ensure the World Cup runs smoothly. According to four people familiar with the conversations, all of whom remain anonymous to protect relationships, the FIFA executives raised with Infantino the possibility of a direct request to Trump to dial down the prevalence of ICE during the tournament.
These conversations initially centered on keeping ICE away from World Cup venues across 11 U.S. host cities, but then became even broader to encompass the cities themselves. Yet the World Cup will actually take place across even more states, with teams having base camps scattered across the country, which led the FIFA officials to conclude that the request should be a full moratorium on ICE raids throughout the 39-day tournament.
The Athletic has been told Infantino informed senior FIFA management he was receptive to this idea and he would seek to make a president-to-president ask of Trump to reduce ICE’s role during the tournament. FIFA declined to comment on all matters raised within this report.
It is not known at this stage whether Infantino has yet made the request, or if he will follow through on it, or indeed whether the White House would be prepared to countenance such a request regarding domestic policy in the United States from FIFA.
The organization’s main headquarters is in Switzerland, although they now also have offices in Miami and New York City.
The FIFA officials even hypothesized about the possibility of pitching to the White House that they could jointly make an announcement of an ICE moratorium, which they argued could be framed as a positive news story for both FIFA and the Trump administration. It is unclear, however, how the White House would respond to this framing considering a crackdown on illegal immigration via ICE raids has been a key priority of the administration. The FIFA officials discussed framing this under Infantino’s preferred slogan of “FIFA Unites the World.”
For the Club World Cup last summer, sources indicate FIFA came to a quiet understanding with the White House that ICE would not proactively make raids or conduct enforcement close to or at venues during the tournament.
The discussions within FIFA on the matter have now been ongoing for several weeks, during which time ICE agents also operated in some U.S. airports to assist Transportation Security Administration officers who struggled to process long lines of passengers during a partial government shutdown.
In February, after the Trump administration received some blowback following events in Minnesota, Trump said he had ordered the withdrawal of 700 officers involved in the crackdown, adding his administration could use a “softer touch,” while warning they would remain “tough” on the issue.
ICE agents on patrol in Minnesota in February (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
It remains to be seen, however, whether Trump would be receptive to toning ICE down across the entire country at FIFA’s request, or how Infantino would go about the matter.
Asked to comment for this story, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle did not directly respond to the points raised but said: “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the FIFA World Cup 2026 will be one of the greatest and most spectacular events in the history of mankind, right here in the United States of America. This event will generate billions of dollars of economic impact and bring hundreds of thousands of jobs to our country. The president is focused on making this the greatest World Cup ever while ensuring it is the safest and most secure in history.”
The White House FIFA World Cup Task Force executive director Andrew Giuliani told The Athletic that Trump has instructed him to “ensure a safe and secure World Cup”, saying that the task force has sought to unify federal, state and local partners to support the 11 host cities across the 78 games in the U.S..
FIFA’s planning for the World Cup has already been challenged by the policies of the Trump administration, most vividly during the ongoing war with World Cup participants Iran, but also notably on the issues of visas. Infantino has repeatedly claimed this summer’s men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico will be the “most inclusive” in the competition’s history, but four countries competing in the tournament are subject to travel bans, excluding many of their supporters.
Fans from other countries, including Algeria and Cape Verde, must deposit up to $15,000 (£11,100) in bond payments to be granted a tourist visa. When The Athletic asked the State Department in March about FIFA seeking to influence the U.S. government’s policies on visas, a spokesperson stressed that “rules, policies, and procedures for visa processing are set in Washington, D.C.,” adding it would “engage robustly” with FIFA.
The pressure on FIFA to take action regarding ICE has stepped up over the past week. First, FIFA received strike threats from thousands of workers at SoFi Stadium, the tournament’s host venue in Los Angeles and the site of the opening USMNT game during the tournament, with ICE topping the list of concerns outlined by the local union as it negotiates a new bargaining agreement. The advocacy group Human Rights Watch last week also called on FIFA to “seek a public guarantee from federal authorities to refrain from immigration enforcement at games and venues.”
