Friday: ICE at the World Cup and It's Already a Mess

Rush LindellSo here's what's going on: the World Cup kicked off and the U.S. rolled out the red carpet. Well, sort of.

ReaganDepending on which airport you landed at.

Rush LindellIraq star striker Aymen Hussein detained seven hours at O'Hare.

ReaganWow.

Rush LindellTeam photographer sent home entirely. Welcome to America!

ReaganAnd that's not an isolated incident- we've got a pattern here that runs well beyond one team.

Rush LindellYou know what nobody wants to say? This is the World Cup we hosted specifically to show the world who we are.

ReaganRight; and Somalia's top referee-CAF referee of the year-turned away at Miami after eleven hours of questioning, with a valid visa.

Rush LindellGone, finished, back to Mogadishu, and he came home to a hero's welcome which tells you exactly how the rest of the world is reading this story.

ReaganThe security rationale is not nothing. But the execution,--that's where the argument falls apart.

Rush LindellHold on, there's more! Iran's national team is literally commuting from Tijuana on game days because their staff couldn't get U.S. visas.

ReaganDaily cross-border commute to play a World Cup match.

Rush LindellI know, I know! And DHS Secretary Mullin confirmed ICE is out at every stadium every day, wouldn't rule out immigration arrests. While a SoFi Stadium crew voted to strike, this show is not short on material.

ReaganThere's a real policy conversation buried under all of this, and we're going to have it.

Rush LindellWe are, and we start right now with the moment that put this whole thing on the map. Before we dive in, a quick reminder. We love hearing from you. If you have questions or topics you'd like us to cover, head to the link in the description and submit your question. We read every single one. So here's what's going on. The World Cup kicks off Forty-eight nations' biggest tournament in history, and the stories we were talking about months ago, they're not hypothetical anymore. They're happening in real time at actual airports to actual players.

ReaganAnd it's worth being precise about what we predicted and what actually materialized. We said border enforcement during the World Cup would create friction. What we got was Iraq's star striker Ayman Hussein. Keene detained at O'Hare for seven hours, phone searched.

Rush LindellSeven hours!

ReaganRight.

Rush LindellThe guy who scored the goal that sent Iraq to its first World Cup in forty years questioned like a suspect?

ReaganCBP let him in, but the team photographer, Talal Salah, held for over ten hours and denied entry entirely. CBP cited vetting concerns, no specifics.

Rush LindellNo specifics-love that-love when the government explains itself by not explaining itself.

ReaganLook, I get why border officers need discretion, but the optics here are not subtle. You've got Iraq's national soccer hero in an interrogation room the week his country plays its first World Cup match in 40 years.

Speaker 3And this is what I kept saying: we were told everyone will be welcome. The American Immigration Council ran a piece today quoting FIFA President Infantino from last year, everyone will be welcome. Great, great celebration. Great-great!

ReaganNewsweek confirmed incidents involving players from Iraq, Iran and Senegal. These aren't isolated-there's a pattern forming.

Speaker 3Forty-eight nations. You know what nobody wants to say? The U.S. chose this exact moment, the biggest sporting event on the planet, to demonstrate who it lets through the door,

ReaganWow.

Speaker 3and it's not going unnoticed.

ReaganThe Boston Globe reported DHS Secretary Mullin said immigration arrests at matches aren't off the table, so the question isn't whether this gets messier.

Speaker 3The question is, who's the story that makes it undeniable? And there's one case, Reagan, that I think answers that. A Referee denied entry with a valid visa. The details on that one are something else.

Rush LindellNow one man-that's all this next story needs.

ReaganOmar Abdulkadir Artan

Speaker 3Somalia's first Referee ever selected for a World Cup, named Twenty Twenty Five Referee of the Year by the Confederation of African Football; valid visa, valid FIFA credentials, flew in from Istanbul, landed at Miami International,

Reaganmm and-hmm

Speaker 3eleven hours later put on a plane back to Istanbul.

ReaganCBP's explanation was "vetting concerns," that's the full statement.

Speaker 3Vetting concerns, three syllables, that's it!

ReaganNow look, a Trump Administration official told NBC News Artan was refused due to "Association with suspected members of terror organizations." That's a serious allegation, I'm not dismissing it.

Speaker 3And you can't verify it, neither can Artan, he told the New York Times he was questioned for- For eleven hours about al-Shabaab, a group he says he knows

ReaganRight.

Speaker 3nothing about.

ReaganHere's my honest problem with that framing Rush. If that's a genuine counter-terrorism concern, why wasn't it caught at the visa stage? A Somali member of parliament asked the exact same question.

Speaker 3That's the thing that doesn't add up. State Department issued the visa. CBP turned him around at the door. Two arms of the same government,

ReaganWow.

Speaker 3completely different answers.

ReaganAnd FIFA's response is effectively "not our problem." They confirmed he will be unable to train and officiate, and noted they have "no involvement" in host country immigration processes.

Speaker 3Super helpful, Johnny!

ReaganRemarkably so.

Speaker 3Somalia flew him home to Mogadishu, and thousands showed up at the stadium not for a match, just to cheer the man America sent back. That's the image. That's what the world saw.

ReaganAnd it's not an abstraction anymore. It's a face, a name, a career, Somalia's first ever World Cup official gone before he called a single foul.

Speaker 3Which brings us to Chicago, because our ton is a referee. What happens when it's the guy who scored the goal that sent Iraq to its first World Cup in 40 years? Say "Machine O'Hare" this time. Eamon Hussein, the man who scored the goal that sent Iraq to its first World Cup in forty years, lands in Chicago and gets pulled aside. Seven hours of questioning. Phone search.

Rush LindellThe rest of the team walked through.

ReaganAnd the back story matters here: His father was killed by an Al-Qaeda attack; his brother was abducted by ISIS, whereabouts still unknown. The guy is a survivor of the exact violence America spent two decades fighting.

Rush LindellSo, naturally, we detained him for seven hours.

ReaganRight.

Rush LindellBut hold on! Hussein got in—the one who didn't—team photographer Talal Salah. Newsweek reported he was held for more than ten hours, phone and devices searched, then denied entry entirely,

Speaker 3Wow.

Rush Lindellsent home via Madrid.

ReaganAnd this is where I slow down rush. CBP didn't just cite vetting concerns. ABC7 Chicago reported the denial was based on, quote, classified information in accordance with U.S. law. That's a different standard.

Rush LindellMeaning we can't actually evaluate it.

ReaganWhich is the problem. It might be legitimate; but when you cite classified information and give zero further explanation, you're asking the public to just trust the call, after everything we've already seen this week.

Rush LindellThe Iraqi Football Federation did not trust the call. They publicly compared the treatment to the scrutiny Qatar faced in twenty twenty two, Iraq's first World Cup in forty years and the story out of Chicago. is a seven hour interrogation and a missing photographer?

ReaganIf you wanted to make Iraq's return to the World Cup memorable, congratulations; just not the way anyone planned.

Rush LindellNot exactly. And look, the two cases together aren't random noise: same script, valid credentials, vague justification, maximum symbolic cost.

ReaganNow flip that to the next level: Iraq is one team. What happens when it's an entire nation redesigning its tournament logistics around U.S. restrictions?

Rush LindellIran: three group stage matches on American soil, and they cannot sleep here. Now Iran, and this is where it goes from frustrating to genuinely absurd.

ReaganThe team is sleeping in Tijuana.

Rush LindellThe team is sleeping in Tijuana.

Speaker 4Iran originally planned to base in Tucson, Arizona. That fell apart. So they packed up and moved to Mexico. And per Newsweek, their visas require them to enter and exit the U.S. on the same day for each match.

ReaganEvery game. Cross the border in, play 90 minutes, cross back.

Speaker 4They're commuting to the World Cup.

ReaganLike a day labor arrangement for a national soccer team.

Speaker 4You know what nobody wants to say? The U.S. is simultaneously conducting diplomacy with Iran and also treating their national team like they don't get to stay for breakfast.

ReaganThat tension is real, and the American Immigration Council flagged it today. Iran's players got their visas only 10 days before their first match. Ten days against New Zealand on June 21st.

Speaker 4While more than a dozen support staff, including the Federation President, were denied entry entirely.

ReaganAnd then the fan tickets. According to ESPN and Al Jazeera,

Speaker 4Wow.

ReaganFIFA pulled Iran's entire ticket allocation days before the opener. The Federation called it contrary to the principles of fairness. The tickets had already been sold.

Speaker 4Fans who made plans bought arrangements gone and FIFA just accommodated it.

ReaganLook, I understand the IRGC concern. Andrew Giuliani from the White House FIFA task force said some denied officials were flagged as potentially connected to the Revolutionary Guard. That's a legitimate security argument.

Rush LindellFine, but the team is ranked twentieth in the world. They're playing three matches on U.S. soil, in L.A. and Seattle, and we can't let them sleep here overnight?

ReaganThat's the image this tournament is projecting internationally, and it's worth asking who thought this through.

Speaker 4Someone did think it through. That's almost worse. DHS Secretary Mullin has some answers on that, but we'll get to him in a minute. So Mullin steps up to the mic and says, and I'm not paraphrasing, ICE and HSI will be out there every day. Counterfeit tickets, human trafficking, drug smuggling, that's the stated rationale.

ReaganAnd that part, legitimate. Federal presence at a hundred thousand person event isn't new. They did it at the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4Right, nobody blinked at the Super Bowl.

ReaganBut then CBS presses him. Is this immigration enforcement or not? And he says, As ICE always says immigration enforcement were always going to do that, in the same breath as we're not rounding up mass individuals.

Speaker 4So yes and no; both, neither, simultaneously.

ReaganTo the communications failure here is almost impressive: you can have a credible security argument for ICE at these venues, but when your own secretary can't give a straight answer in back-to-back sentences, you've created maximum fear with minimal clarity. Clarity.

Speaker 4And the fear has consequences. The American Immigration Council flagged that over 120 immigrant rights groups issued a travel warning. Fans, journalists, workers could face serious rights violations.

ReaganAnd SoFi Stadium workers UNITE HERE Local 11 about 2,000 employees voted to authorize a strike over ICE deployment fears. They reached a last-minute agreement, but part of that deal lets them walk off. Like off the job if ICE shows up and they feel threatened.

Speaker 4The people pouring your beer might walk out mid match because of a DHS press release. That's the situation.

ReaganNow push back on me. Is some of this fear overblown?

Speaker 4Some of it, sure. ICE has been at major events for years. We all know what's really happening here. Advocacy groups have every incentive to maximize alarm, but Mullin handed them the ammunition. You can't say we're not rounding people up and then refuse to rule out a. loud arrests in the same interview.

ReaganTwo things are true at once. The security rationale is real, the messaging has been a disaster, and when you're hosting the biggest sporting event on the planet, you don't get the benefit of the doubt on ambiguity.

Rush LindellAnd we haven't even gotten to the fans who spent thousands, showed up at the airport, and got sent home. That's the next layer of this whole thing.

Speaker 4And it's not just players and officials getting caught in this. The American Immigration Council published a piece today. Fans are eating it too.

ReaganScottish fans had their ESTAs—that's the Visa Waiver Authorization—flip from approved to travel not authorized with days to go. No explanation. Some had already dropped thousands on flights and hotels.

Speaker 4Travel not authorized after you booked a once...

Rush LindellOnce-in-a-lifetime trip, flights, hotels, match tickets, gone.

ReaganWow.

Rush LindellScotland's first minister had to personally contact U.S. officials to try to fix it.

ReaganAnd Moroccan fans? Same story, sharper numbers. The Sports Association of Moroccan National Team Fans saw 40 of 42 applicants rejected. Tickets already bought, hotels already paid, no reasons given.

Rush LindellForty out of 42. These are people who traveled to Qatar, to Russia, to the Paris Olympics, spotless record, and they get a form letter that says no while holding match tickets.

ReaganAnd journalists from Iran and Africa were denied press credentials. The International Sports Press Association wrote an open letter to FIFA about it.

Rush LindellOkay, so what did FIFA say? What did Gianni Infantino, the man who promised the world... everyone will be welcome what did he say when reporters pressed him on all of this I'm

ReaganOh, this is good.

Rush Lindellreading according to ESPN he said quote maybe sometimes it's good as well to chill relax a

ReaganChill and relax.

Rush Lindellman lost his career's defining moment 40 Moroccan fans are sitting home with useless tickets Scottish families are eating thousands in losses And the head of FIFA says chill?

ReaganLook, he has a point buried in there. FIFA genuinely can't override U.S. immigration law, but that also exposes exactly how much leverage FIFA has over the host government on this, which is essentially zero.

Rush LindellZero. They sold seven million tickets and delivered a shrug. That's the whole arrangement.

ReaganAnd that's the setup for the question nobody at DHS has... has actually answered yet, which is whether any of this is worth what it costs the country's image.

Rush LindellThat's where we land next, the verdict. So here's where we land: the tournament is live, games are being played, and the question hanging over every stadium is whether the enforcement story gets bigger or quieter from here.

ReaganAnd that's the honest test. The Boston Globe reported DHS Secretary Mullin said arrests at matches aren't off the table, but also that ICE won't be rounding up anyone. Los Angeles County officials actually went further and told us Told Al Jazeera: "Civil immigration enforcement specifically would not occur at any LA games.

Rush LindellSo there's a split already-different cities, different answers-that's not a policy, that's improvisation.

ReaganRight, and that's my closing point: good enforcement policy has a clear standard: Does it make the country safer? You can defend screening players at the border. You can defend vetting credentials. What you cannot defend is detaining a referee with a valid visa for eleven hours, and sending him home, and then offering no explanation that holds up to scrutiny.

Rush LindellZero strategic upside. A bad look with no return on investment.

ReaganNone.

Rush LindellHere's my verdict: consistent enforcement builds credibility-I believe that-but credibility requires consistency that makes sense. Denying entry to the guy who scored Iraq's qualifying goal. Whose families survived Al Qaeda, that's not a credibility statement. That's a machine that isn't making distinctions.

ReaganAnd the next few weeks answer the real question: If ICE presents at stadiums produces quiet, trafficking busts, counterfeit rings, actual criminals, the security rationale holds; if it produces viral footage of fans being pulled out of stands, the story writes itself.

Rush LindellAnd America owns that story for the next four years

Speaker 3Right.

Rush Lindellbefore the next tournament.

ReaganThe world is watching not metaphorically, literally, in 180 countries.

Rush LindellSo get it right. The American Immigration Council put it plainly today: these policies will be part of this tournament's legacy. The only open question is what kind. All right, bottom line on today's show, the enforcement machine is running, and it doesn't slow down for a referee with a valid visa or a striker whose family survived Al Qaeda.

ReaganThe Argentine story says it all: eleven hours at Miami sent back to Istanbul; CBS News confirmed he had the right documents, and now UEFA has handed him the Super Cup Final.

Rush LindellEurope gets Africa's best referee; we get the press coverage. OUTSTANDING TRADE

ReaganThe question, Reagan flagged, why wasn't any terror concern caught at the visa stage? That's not just optics, that's a process question nobody's answered.

Rush LindellAnd it's sitting there—ICE's at those stadiums every day now. The next few weeks will tell us whether the security rationale holds or whether the story writes itself.

ReaganYeah.

Rush LindellThanks for being here. Subscribe. Leave a five star review. Tell a friend. New episodes every weekday. We'll see you tomorrow.