Haiti’s first football World Cup appearance since 1974 is a source of immense pride. However, Emile, a Haitian living in Ohio, is afraid to attend a match because of United States President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Haiti open their account at the 2026 edition of football’s showpiece international event against Scotland on June 14 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The state is home to 87,000 Haitians, according to government figures, making it one of the largest populations for the diaspora in the US.

All three of Haiti’s group-stage matches are in the US, with games against Brazil in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Morocco in Atlanta, Georgia, completing their first-phase fixtures.

“Singing my country’s national anthem in a stadium in front of the whole world is a historic moment that no one would want to miss,” Emile, a truck driver in his 40s who did not wish to give his last name, told the AFP news agency.

“But at the same time, I think twice. I don’t want to be arrested by ICE,” he said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers tasked with arresting and deporting undocumented foreign nationals.

“My lawyer advised me not to fly so I don’t get caught at the airport,” he said.

Emile’s concerns are shared by many in the immigrant community, who have watched heavily armed, masked ICE officers carry out their often brutal operations in multiple US cities.

Outrage peaked when ICE officers shot dead two American demonstrators in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“Now, people are making sure that they are aware to what they are doing and they don’t feel safe,” Monica Sarmiento of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights told AFP.

“They are afraid. We have seen very aggressive tactics [from ICE] that have gone after not only undocumented communities but also people with protective status.”

Sarmiento said, “Seventy percent of the people arrested, detained and deported have no criminal record.”

“Many of them have been here for decades, paying taxes for decades,” she added, condemning “a fearful and hostile environment across the country, and not only for the World Cup but every single day”.

ICE and tickets among biggest concerns for World Cup

Seventy-eight of the 104 World Cup matches will be held in the US, which is cohosting the June 11-July 19 tournament with Canada and Mexico.

The possibility of ICE activity around US matches has led to concerns among the Hispanic community, which comprises 20 percent of the US population and is concentrated in California, Texas and Florida states, with significant representation in big cities such as Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York.

Beyond the Massachusetts demographic, the Haitian community had some 850,000 people in 2024, largely concentrated in Miami and New York, who also felt under threat.

The Trump administration wants to end the temporary protected status from which Emile and others benefit. It prevents their deportation to their home country, one of the poorest in the world, and one ravaged by political instability, economic crisis and gang violence.

Fears have been stoked by reports like one from Human Rights Watch, which said an asylum seeker who attended the Club World Cup final last year in New Jersey with his children was arrested by ICE and deported to his country of origin.

Some rights organisations also fear that ICE will target foreign tourists around stadiums or in the numerous fan zones where supporters will gather.

More than 120 US civil rights organisations, including the influential American Civil Liberties Union, issued a “travel advisory” in April, warning of the “risk of serious rights violations” to fans, players, journalists and other visitors.

According to the signatories, people travelling to the US could risk denial of entry and risk of arrest, detention and/or deportation, racial profiling and “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment – and even death – while in ICE detention or custody”.

ICE, one of many agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has long taken part in security arrangements for major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl.

“International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about,” a DHS spokesperson told AFP.

“What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the US.”

In Los Angeles, California, workers at the world’s most expensive sports arena say an ICE presence would create a climate of fear for them and for fans.

As a result, the UNITE HERE Local 11 – a labour union representing some 2,000 hospitality employees – has decided to go on strike if federal immigration enforcement agents are deployed at the city’s SoFi Stadium for World Cup matches.

“ICE should have no role in these games,” said Isaac Martinez, a stadium cook, at a protest outside the venue.

“We do not want to live in fear coming to work, or fear being detained going home.”

Fellow stadium worker Yolanda Fierro added: “We ask FIFA not to share our information with ICE agencies, foreign countries, or intelligence services.”

World football’s governing body, FIFA, said it “is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights and strives to promote the protection of these rights”.

Haitian concerns before the tournament, along with many fans hopeful of attending the World Cup, also extend to being priced out of the tournament.

Haiti’s opening game will be their fourth appearance in Foxborough, including a draw and a defeat in the CONCACAF Gold Cup against the US. Crowds averaged 30,000-plus.

In 2011, the Haitian Olympic team attracted a crowd of 11,513 for an earthquake relief fund benefit match at Harvard Stadium – at least 3,000 more fans than the attendance at the New England Revolution’s Major League Soccer (MLS) game at Gillette Stadium the previous night.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Julio Midy, founder of Boston-based Radio Concorde, which caters to the local Haitian community, said the World Cup is also being pushed away from the country’s fans due to pricing.

“Tickets are very, very expensive and, unfortunately, we [the Haitian diaspora] cannot afford it,” he said.

The cheapest seats on general sale for international fans to watch Qatar open the 2022 World Cup were $302, up from $220 in Russia. In comparison, FIFA’s December ticket sales priced the June 12 USA opener against Paraguay at $1,120, $1,940, and $2,735.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended high ‌‌ticket prices for this year’s World Cup, saying ⁠⁠the event is the organisation’s only source of income every four years.

He also reiterated that FIFA is a nonprofit organisation with 211 member nations, which are supported through the revenue FIFA generates in tournaments like these.