Miami World Cup Host Committee Promises No ICE Presence at Games Despite Rising Raids

Miami’s World Cup host committee has publicly assured fans and residents that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will not be conducting enforcement operations at the upcoming 2026 World Cup matches held in the city. Rodney Barreto, co-chair of the Miami host committee, said he received direct assurances from Senator Marco Rubio that ICE agents will stay away from the stadiums during the tournament.

“ICE is not going to be at the stadium,” Barreto told The Athletic. “This is not going to turn into some ‘round them up’ type of thing. That’s not the purpose of this.” He emphasized that the event is meant to be a “great experience for everybody” and credited the Trump administration for providing resources to reimburse local police protection costs.

Barreto also highlighted coordination efforts with Rubio to ensure smooth processing of passports and orderly entry for international visitors, calling it “a major undertaking by the federal government.” The Miami host committee expressed confidence in federal management of the event’s security and logistics.

However, this reassurance comes amid a backdrop of intensified immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s second term, which began last year and has seen a marked increase in ICE raids nationwide. The presence of ICE at public events has been a contentious issue, stoking fears of mass detentions and community disruption.

Miami’s role as a World Cup host city also recalls recent security failures at the 2024 Copa America game in Miami Gardens, where fans stormed stadium gates, causing injuries and delaying the match between Argentina and Colombia. Barreto acknowledged that the Copa America event lacked proper perimeter controls, allowing non-ticket holders to overwhelm entrances.

“We didn’t want to be critical of the planners of that event,” Barreto said. “But now that time has passed, I would tell you that where the failure was, which was that there were no perimeters. People without tickets should have been nowhere near the entrance ways of that stadium.”

He added that lessons learned from the Copa America incident are being applied to improve security planning for the World Cup, aiming to prevent similar breaches.

While the Miami host committee’s promise to keep ICE out of stadiums may ease some concerns, the broader context of increasing immigration enforcement underlines a persistent threat to immigrant communities. The Trump administration’s aggressive tactics have sparked widespread condemnation and resistance, making the assurance of a “round them up” free World Cup a critical but cautious note in an otherwise tense political climate.

As the World Cup approaches, activists and community members will be watching closely to ensure that the tournament does not become another venue for ICE operations or a display of authoritarian overreach masked as security. The stakes extend beyond sport — they touch on civil rights, trust in public institutions, and the right to gather safely without fear of immigration raids.