ICE ‘will have presence’ at Kansas City World Cup matches, White House says
As Kansas City prepares to host a series of World Cup matches, federal immigration agents will be on the ground near Arrowhead Stadium, a top White House official said Tuesday.
Andrew Giuliani, the head of the Trump administration’s World Cup task force, broadly touted the role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in policing the international event in an interview with The Star on Tuesday.
Giuliani would not share the agency’s full scope of operations, but said that much of its work will focus on the stadium — renamed Kansas City Stadium for the World Cup — and the FIFA Fan Festival at the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
“ICE will have presence in all World Cup matches, just like they do for Super Bowls,” Giuliani said.
The revelation comes as Kansas City prepares to host a matchup between Argentina and Algeria on Tuesday, the first of six World Cup matches in the city. As thousands of international fans descend on the city, ICE’s presence was largely expected and has quietly loomed over the event.
Protests against ICE’s role in handling World Cup security efforts have erupted across the country in other host cities such as Seattle and Arlington. In the lead-up to the World Cup, a series of high-profile arrests in the metro had thrust Kansas City into a national fight over the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on American cities.
The shooting deaths of former Kansas City resident Renee Good and ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year had sparked calls to defund ICE, the immigration agency at the center of the chaos. Now, the next several weeks could pose a major test of whether Kansas City can balance the presence of immigration agents with hosting a safe and secure event.
Giuliani said ICE will be involved in law enforcement efforts around the World Cup and specifically praised the federal agency for its efforts to combat human trafficking.
“The incredible work they do not just makes these stadiums safer for major events, but it also helps to interdict in one of the most heinous crimes in human history,” Giuliani said. “We are not going to allow bad actors to access the country under the excuse of a soccer tournament.”
But as the Trump administration boosts the agency’s role in overseeing the event, ICE’s presence has sparked a level of unease among some critics.
Rep. Mark Sharp, a Kansas City Democrat, said the agency’s attendance could give some fans “cause to pause, as far as coming” to World Cup events in Kansas City.
“This is the first time we’ve been on the international stage in this capacity,” said Sharp. “I would sure hate to make our out-of-town visitors…feel intimidated or unwelcome.”
When asked about ICE’s presence during the event, Mayor Quinton Lucas vowed to “deliver a safe and welcoming World Cup for every resident and every guest.”
“Our police department does not operate in the immigration enforcement arena, and that will not change during the World Cup or at any point after,” Lucas said in a statement. “Where we cooperate with federal partners, it is in service of public safety, not immigration detention.”
‘Balance’ in policing
Ahead of Tuesday’s matchup, the U.S. Travel Association and Visit KC hosted a panel to tout the impact of the World Cup on the region’s tourism industry. The panel included Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, Geoff Freeman, who leads the U.S. Travel Association and Luisa Mendoza, the CEO of Global Tourism Sports & Entertainment.
Alec Oxenford, Argentina’s U.S. ambassador, and Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Alford also spoke at the event.
In an interview after the panel, Kehoe, a Republican, appeared to be unaware of ICE’s role in overseeing the World Cup.
“They have not told me if they’re here,” he said. “You have to assume they’re in about every major city across the U.S., but I don’t have any information from the administration whether they’re here or not.”
Kehoe, however, praised efforts from law enforcement to provide a safe event. He specifically pointed to President Donald Trump, Giuliani and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also touted cooperation between local, state and federal police agencies, such as the Kansas City Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
“(Those agencies) have all worked together — not to make it feel like we’re some sort of prison — but that we are absolutely keeping fans safe and a welcoming experience,” he said. “A lot of effort has gone into making sure we achieve that balance.”
