Immigration is helping the US soccer team get the job done at the World Cup.
Many of the players on the US squad, which faces Belgium in a World Cup elimination game on July 6, have roots to immigrant parents or grandparents.
Another player, star striker Folarin Balogun—whose availability for today’s game is the subject of a soccer and diplomatic crisis—is only eligible for the national team because of birthright citizenship.
But while President Donald Trump celebrates the US team’s achievements on the field, his administration has continued its campaign of terror against immigrants across the United States.
Federal authorities are subjecting record numbers of immigrants to mandatory detention, including in inhuman and degrading conditions, while gutting internal oversight mechanisms.
A June 25 report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights found that in the 500 days between President Trump’s inauguration and June 4, 2026, 52 people died in ICE custody in the United States, the highest rate in many years.
Adding to dangers for immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security is moving ahead with plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians, which would leave huge numbers of people newly vulnerable to deportation to dangerous conditions.
Haiti’s participation in the World Cup, its first since 1974, was a welcome distraction from the country’s humanitarian and security crisis. But the impending termination of protections has triggered widespread fear among Haitian communities of family separation, job loss, and deportation to a country engulfed by violence.
The US soccer team is a testament to the players’ courage, hard work, and unity. Their success should inspire the US government to end its cruel immigration policies.
