(New York) - The arrest and return of an asylum seeker who took his children to the Club World Cup soccer tournament final on July 13, 2025, raises serious concerns about the safety of noncitizens attending the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today.

In May, Human Rights Watch wrote to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the World Cup organizer, to express concerns about the risks and impact of US immigration policies on the 2026 World Cup and the 2025 US Club World Cup, recommending "immediate action" to address US policies that create risk and threaten FIFA's ability to uphold its stated values of human rights, inclusion, and global participation.

FIFA responded on June 3, stating that it "expects ... host countries take measures to ensure that any eligible persons who are involved in the Competition are able to enter the respective countries," and "is actively working on this matter with relevant authorities." FIFA also said it would engage with relevant authorities if it becomes aware of human rights concerns.

But the incident at the Club World Cup final, uncovered by Human Rights Watch, illustrates the limitations of FIFA's efforts to address the serious human rights risks noncitizens face at FIFA events.

"A father who loves soccer planned a special day with his children at a FIFA tournament, ended up detained for three months, and was then sent to a country where he said his life is at risk," said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. "Under the Trump administration's policies, immigration enforcement at major sporting events can tear families apart and could expose people fleeing persecution to life-threatening danger."

The man, whose name and country of origin are being withheld at his request, was detained in New Jersey before the Club World Cup tournament final between Chelsea (England) and Paris Saint-Germain (France). He was in the American Dream Mall parking lot near MetLife Stadium with two of his children, ages 10 and 14, waiting for the match to begin.

The man and his family members told Human Rights Watch that police questioned and then detained him after he attempted to fly a small drone to take a photograph of his family. When the drone malfunctioned, he put the drone back in his car and was detained as he was doing so.

A local ordinance prohibits the use of drones on or over the MetLife Complex, implementing a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) directive against flying drones in and around stadiums during sporting events. Unintentionally violating the FAA prohibition is a civil offense and usually only results in a fine, according to an aviation lawyer consulted by Human Rights Watch.

The man said that the officer who questioned him initially told him they would issue him a citation and release him quickly. Instead, law enforcement officers asked about his immigration status and then handed him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. ICE agents detained the man the same day and moved to deport him.

Interviewed in the detention facility, he told Human Rights Watch that his last memory of the day of his arrest was "seeing my kids cry because I was captured." His children thought their father would be released to attend the match. But when one child checked his phone, he saw his father's location was 40 minutes away, the man's wife told Human Rights Watch.

People facing deportation have the right to ask for asylum. The family said they fled their country of origin in 2022 after armed groups threatened to kill them.

But the administration of President Donald Trump does not ordinarily allow release from immigration detention, even if asylum seekers can post bond, a sum of money to guarantee that they will continue to appear for deportation hearings.

After three months in immigration detention, the man decided not to appeal when the immigration judge denied his asylum claim. He told Human Rights Watch the prospect of being locked up longer left him in despair. "It's so psychological what they do to you there.... You want to get out so badly."

The Trump administration has frequently stated that immigration enforcement targets "the worst of the worst." But research by Human Rights Watch and other groups has shown that people swept up in raids or apprehended in more targeted operations often have no criminal history.

Ahead of the Club World Cup kickoff, and in response to whether he had any concerns about ICE agents at the games, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: "I don't have any concerns ... we want everyone who comes to the games to pass a good moment.... I'm sure this will be a great, great celebration."

Especially in light of the Trump administration's abusive immigration dragnet, state and local law enforcement agencies that do not have arrangements with ICE to conduct immigration enforcement should generally not ask about immigration status or hold people for ICE to investigate their status, Human Rights Watch said. Agencies that do have such arrangements, known as 287(g) agreements, should take note of their inherent abuses and abandon them. ICE should avoid detaining asylum seekers to the maximum extent permitted by law.

FIFA should call on US authorities not to target World Cup events for immigration enforcement, including through 287(g) arrangements, Human Rights Watch said.

"The 2026 World Cup should be a celebration of soccer, not an immigration enforcement operation that destroys families and puts lives at risk," Worden said. "This case illuminates the dire contradictions of the US preparing to welcome the world's largest sporting event while simultaneously implementing policies to separate families and deport asylum seekers."

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Since President Trump took office in January 2025, the US government has taken steps to limit access to legal pathways to seek asylum. Human Rights Watch has documented how US deportation policies have exposed deported immigrants to the risk of death and human rights abuse.

Immigration and other law enforcement authorities have dramatically scaled up the number of arrests and detentions since the beginning of the Trump administration, with large operations in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago. Federal immigration officers have targeted Latino communities, carrying out raids and arrests based on people's perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin.

The 2026 World Cup will take place in 11 US cities and areas, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The World Cup final will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the 2025 Club World Cup final took place.

From January 20 to October 15, ICE arrested at least 92,392 people in and around cities where World Cup games will be played, according to government data provided by ICE in response to a freedom of information request to the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by Human Rights Watch. This does not include arrests made by US Customs and Border Protection or other law enforcement agencies. Of all these arrests, 65.1 percent were of immigrants with no US criminal convictions, which closely tracks with nationwide trends.

In New Jersey, 73.8 percent of 5,331 ICE arrests were of noncitizens with no US criminal convictions. ICE raids have occurred in New Jersey, leading to the arrests of large numbers of people at their workplaces, including noncitizens and US citizens.

Media reported that some fans who purchased tickets to the Club World Cup sold their tickets for fear of being arrested or detained at stadiums and eventually deported. Staff from Telemundo (a Spanish-language US news outlet), Miami's mayor, and FIFA officials were at a World Cup boat party in Miami that was canceled when the vessel was boarded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Coast Guard and some attendees were asked to show documentation of their legal status.

According to online posts, DHS officers were present during Club World Cup matches outside Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and ICE planned to be present at Lumen Field in Seattle.

The impact of arrests and raids on communities where World Cup games will be hosted has been devastating. In New Jersey, people are afraid of going outside, families have lost breadwinners, and businesses are suffering, according to members of Estamos Unidos. "Nobody feels safe," one member said. The presence of local police during some of the documented arrests often leads to community members feeling less safe and subsequently less likely to report crime if they fear that any encounter with police could lead to them being turned over to immigration.

Many immigrants, faced with detention and deportation, have opted for "voluntary departure" in part to avoid the legal bars on re-entering the United States that come with being deported. The number of immigrants who have left voluntarily in New York and New Jersey courts from July to October 2025 increased by 1,373 percent compared to the same period last year, according to an analysis by Documented New York, an immigration-focused news outlet. This increase followed a July 8 ICE policy that limited bond eligibility for immigrants in detention.

The man arrested near the World Cup event was detained in Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark, where there have been media reports of poor treatment of detainees, lack of food, and unsafe conditions for visitors.

An immigration judge denied the father's asylum claim in September. The father said that, traumatized by three months of detention and desperate to speak more regularly to his children, he decided not to pursue further legal action, despite his fear of returning to his country of origin. The family had to purchase air tickets for his "voluntary departure."

Article 4 of FIFA's Human Rights Policy states that "FIFA will strive to go beyond its responsibility to respect human rights, as enshrined in the UNGPs [UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights], by taking measures to promote the protection of human rights and positively contribute to their enjoyment, especially where it is able to apply effective leverage to help increase said enjoyment or where this relates to strengthening human rights in or through football."

Source: Human Rights Watch