The World Cup is continuing to suck, and here’s the latest reason why: CBP goons denied referee Omar Artan entry into the U.S., where he was set to become the first-ever Somali to officiate a World Cup game.
Artan arrived in Miami on Saturday to attend a mandatory training hub for the tournament’s 140 officials. (Because all on-pitch refs have to stay at the base in Florida, he can’t just go to Canada or Mexico to officiate matches.) Instead of allowing him through, however, immigration officials interrogated Artan for 11 hours before locking him in a holding cell for several more. Then they put him on a flight to Istanbul without providing a reason for his denied entry. Since then, CBP cited vague “vetting concerns” in an official statement. As a result, Artan will not fulfill what he says is “the biggest dream” of his life at the 2026 World Cup, despite the Confederation of African Football naming him as their top male official last year.
FIFA regards Artan like they do most of the fans, players, and professionals who populate their World Cup: They could not give less of a shit about him. They deferred responsibility for his detention and ejection to “host country immigration processes” which the organization is “not involved in.” Artan is out, and they will not lift a finger to challenge that.
Somali immigrants are among Donald Trump’s favorite groups to disparage. They were at the center of the hellfire the feds rained down on Minnesota in the winter, and they’re also subject to the Trump administration’s near-total travel ban on 19 mostly Muslim-majority nations. The ban promised specific exceptions for the World Cup and other major sporting events, but this promise appears as false as the entire premise that there could ever be a fair, discerning campaign of mass expulsion and border security mania. Add “the best male soccer referee in the continent of Africa” to the list of those caught in the expanding dragnet.
