{"id":1014,"date":"2026-06-10T16:59:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:59:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:59:34","slug":"referee-barred-from-entering-u-s-for-world-cup-receives-a-heros-welcome-in-somalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1014","title":{"rendered":"Referee barred from entering U.S. for World Cup receives a hero\u2019s welcome in Somalia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Somalia is not competing at the World Cup, but from the scenes at Mogadishu\u2019s airport Wednesday, you\u2019d think the country had won the trophy. <\/p>\n

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A crowd of supporters, blue-bereted police and journalists jostled to get close to the plane that had just taxied to the terminal ramp.<\/p>\n

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Stepping off the airliner was not a victorious soccer team, however, but rather the man who has become an emblem of what critics say are America\u2019s strict anti-immigration policies colliding with the world\u2019s biggest sporting event.<\/p>\n

Omar Artan, 34, was meant to be the first Somali referee to officiate at a World Cup, selected for the tournament starting Thursday in the United States, Canada and Mexico. But after landing Saturday in Miami, where the referees\u2019 training base is, he was detained and questioned for 11 hours, he says, before being sent back home.<\/p>\n

He is not an isolated case: 15 Iranian officials have also been denied entry, according to Iranian state media, as has the official Iraqi team photographer. An Iraqi player, Aymen Hussein, and other teams say they have been subjected to intensive and sometimes invasive searches at the border.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government gave assurances to FIFA years ahead of the soccer tournament that \u201celigible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world\u201d would be able to attend. But preparations for the tournament faced uncertainty due to travel bans and restrictions imposed under President Donald Trump that prevent or severely limit entry to the U.S. for citizens of 39 countries.<\/p>\n

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Other World Cup tournaments were far from flawless, from the authoritarianism of Russia in 2018 and the human rights concerns of Qatar in 2022, right back to the tournaments held under Mussolini\u2019s Italy in 1934 and Argentina\u2019s junta in 1978. But the spectacle of refusing entry to an accredited referee is unprecedented in the modern era, triggering widespread criticism domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it \u201cterribly backward\u201d for the U.S. to be \u201cflippantly barring officials from entering the country to do their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retired Arsenal and England forward Ian Wright said in a video post that the event was becoming the \u201cWorld Cup of chaos,\u201d asking: \u201cIs this how the hosts behave really for the greatest game, the greatest tournament in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Giuliani, the head of the White House World Cup task force, said Tuesday that Artan was denied entry for a \u201cvery good reason\u201d but declined to go into detail. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the denial was due to \u201cvetting concerns\u201d without further clarification.<\/p>\n

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Trump administration official told NBC News that Artan was refused for reasons including \u201cassociation with suspected members of terror organizations.\u201d The Trump administration official declined to provide evidence or details on the nature of the alleged association.<\/p>\n

Artan told The New York Times he was questioned repeatedly about Somalia\u2019s al-Shabab, saying he did not know anything about the militant group.<\/p>\n

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Somalia has rallied around Artan. The Somali Sports Ministry expressed \u201cdeep regret\u201d over his treatment and the Somali Football Federation expressed its full support for him, though it stressed that \u201cit would be inappropriate to speculate or draw conclusions until all relevant facts have been clearly established.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, CBP said that two members of the Iraqi traveling party were given \u201cadditional inspection, a routine part of its inspection process when officers need to verify information or determine admissibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

While one of these people, whom the CBP did not name as Hussein, was given entry to the U.S., the other was \u201cdetermined to be inadmissible and was denied entry due to vetting concerns,\u201d the agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in an email that Trump was focused on ensuring the World Cup is an \u201cincredible experience for all fans and visitors\u201d and also \u201cthe safest and most secure in history \u2013 and no amount of ridiculous scare tactics driven by liberal activist groups and the left-wing media will change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerformative searches\u201d of players and officials are \u201cfar outside the norm\u201d for the tournament, according to Jules Boykoff, a politics professor at Pacific University in Oregon. \u201cAnd they slice mightily against the spirit of hosting the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not just players and officials. Some fans feel that \u2014 faced with the Trump administration\u2019s hard-line border controls \u2014 they are simply unwilling to risk attending matches in the U.S. this year. <\/p>\n

Many were already put off by steep prices for tickets and accommodation that will make this easily the most expensive World Cup in history for fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a moral obligation to let people enter the country: that\u2019s the whole point of the World Cup, that\u2019s the universality of it,\u201d said Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, a Germany-based organization that advocates for soccer fans worldwide. \u201cNow feels like the White House and FIFA have taken the world out of the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventy-eight of the tournament\u2019s 104 matches will be held on U.S. soil, with Canada and Mexico hosting 13 each.<\/p>\n

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