The United States government has faced sharp criticism from immigration and human rights experts due to the ongoing visa-related complications and entry denials for athletes and officials participating in the FIFA World Cup.
The censure of US President Donald Trump’s administration grew after top Somali football referee Omar Artan, who was set to officiate in World Cup games, was denied entry into the country this week.
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list of 4 itemsend of list“Human rights organisations and advocacy groups have repeatedly raised concerns regarding immigration enforcement practices and treatment of migrant communities in the US,” international sports lawyer Khayran Noor told Al Jazeera last month.
Noor said that while these debates are “independent” of football, they inevitably become relevant when a country hosts one of the world’s largest international gatherings.
“The challenge is that major sporting events rely not only on logistics and security but also on atmosphere and perception.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for a “massive rethink” of US immigration policies, saying that he hoped issues around “racial profiling, around surveillance, around immigration enforcement are not going to affect this World Cup in the way that they have already done”.
Although Artan returned home on Wednesday to a hero’s welcome and sporting a positive attitude, the incident rehashed the conversation on geopolitics and racism being cloaked by US visa denials ahead of the 48-nation, 39-day tournament starting on Thursday.
Fans from several countries, including Morocco and Scotland, who spent thousands of dollars on flights, hotels and tickets for the most expensive World Cup in history, have also reported having their travel documents denied or revoked just days before they were due to travel.
Here’s a look at the athletes, officials and fans affected by US visa complications:
Omar Artan: Somalia
Artan, 34, was set to make history as the first Somali referee to officiate at a World Cup, but his dream debut ended at Miami airport where he was denied entry into the country and flown back to Istanbul, despite having a valid US visa and all required documents.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Al Jazeera on Monday that Artan was “determined to be inadmissible” to the country “due to vetting concerns”, despite having been listed as one of FIFA’s 52 World Cup referees.
Trump has targeted both Somalia and the Somali-American community with inflammatory rhetoric, at one time calling the community “garbage”, and has put Somalia on the US travel ban list.
Iranian World Cup squad and officials
Until last week, there was uncertainty over whether Iran’s football team would be granted visas by the US due to the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran, which has brought geopolitical tensions into the sports sphere.
The US awarded visas to all the players on Friday, just 10 days before their first match, but several members of the support squad were denied visas, including “key managerial and administrative members,” according to the Iranian football federation.
Iran’s team, whose base camp was to originally be in Arizona, will be based in Tijuana, in neighbouring Mexico, throughout the tournament, despite playing their entire group stage on the US West Coast.
The team will be able to enter the US the day before each of their three World Cup matches, the DHS said on Tuesday.
Media reports over the weekend quoted the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, as saying that Iran’s team would have to enter and leave the US on the same day as they were playing, raising questions about logistics and whether it would affect team performance.
Aymen Hussein: Iraq
Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was detained for nearly seven hours and his phone inspected at Chicago’s O’Hare airport before he was eventually allowed into the country.
“Why is America hosting the World Cup if it is so hostile to foreign nationals?” the 30-year-old said after the incident.
Meanwhile, national team photographer Talal Salah was held for more than 10 hours, underwent similar phone checks, and was ultimately denied entry into the US.
Woodensky Pierre: Haiti
Woodensky Pierre, the only member of Haiti’s national football team who lives in the Caribbean country, was granted a late visa by the US government to play in the World Cup.
Pierre had been training with local players in an upscale area of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, as he awaited the visa, which was a “great moment for him, a moment of happiness”, an official of the Haitian Football Federation had said.
The midfielder from Cite Soleil was unable to play in a friendly against New Zealand because his visa was not approved by US authorities until it was too late. He landed at Miami airport around half-time with Haitian football officials and hoped to catch the last part of the game.
Breel Embolo: Switzerland
Swiss forward Breel Embolo was unable to travel with his team due to a flagged visa, but eventually caught up with them after being cleared to enter the US.
The snag was linked to a previous conviction over an altercation in Basel in 2018. Embolo had been convicted of making threats five years later, which he chose not to appeal, but it left his fate to be decided at a meeting at the US Embassy in Bern, where he made his case and was cleared for travel.
Is FIFA obligated to ensure visas?
FIFA’s bidding rules in 2017 for nations wanting to host this World Cup stated that visa processing “must be applied in a non-discriminatory manner”, with the caveat it must not “adversely affect the national immigration and security standards”.
Sports lawyer Noor explained that states understandably retain sovereign responsibilities regarding border control and national security, but global sporting events often require exceptional frameworks.
“This is not about requiring states to abandon immigration laws or surrender sovereignty.
“Rather, it is about asking whether hosting the world’s largest sporting events also carries responsibilities around meaningful inclusion and access,” Noor said.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has fended off concerns and criticism, saying the global football body’s executives are not “kings of the world” and cannot override government decisions.
Infantino, facing questions from the media on the eve of the World Cup on Wednesday, said that FIFA is focused on being a “sports organisation” and will not intervene in helping the US determine approvals for entry into the country.
“We try always to find solutions – always,” Infantino said at a news conference in Mexico City. “But then we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces and I don’t know what. We are a sports organisation; we try to do our best with the means that we have.”
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