Advocates in KC, host cities warn travel to U.S. for World Cup could be dangerous
World Cup travelers or people living in the country’s 11 host cities need to be aware of the risks that the sporting event may bring to vulnerable populations, according to area and national civic organizations.
Several human rights advocacy groups from around the Kansas City metro were among more than 120 organizations on Thursday that signed a travel advisory warning fans, players, journalists and visitors in the United States to be cautious of the country’s “deteriorating human rights situation.”
Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR); Decarcerate KC; Democratic Socialists of America, Kansas City; Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law; and Revolución Educativa are among the Kansas City-area groups that have signed on.
“We can both celebrate the global talent & community joy surrounding shared passions like soccer/futbol, and call out that the Trump administration has created a hostile system of consistent civil rights violations, especially surrounding immigration & free speech,” Revolución Educativa wrote in a social media statement.
The advisory argues that FIFA, cities across the country that are hosting World Cup Games and the federal government have not implemented clear guidelines or protections for immigrants, people who come from racial and ethnic minority groups and people who are LGBTQ+ at a time when the federal and state governments have drastically increased immigration enforcement, arrests and deportations and implemented anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Those policies have made people from these groups particularly vulnerable to harm when traveling in or to the United States during the World Cup, according to the advisory. And people need to be extra cautious and have an emergency plan in place when traveling here, it reads.
“Kansas City is honored to welcome the world this summer as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” according to the office of Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. “We look forward to greeting fans, families, and visitors from across the globe and are committed to ensuring that everyone who comes to Kansas City has a safe, enjoyable, and memorable experience.”
KC2026, the organization that is planning World Cup activities in the metro, similarly said it believes the event will be welcoming to visitors and people who live in the area.
“It’s important to us that the World Cup remains a truly global and welcoming event. We continue to see high interest in the World Cup in Kansas City, and we’re focused on creating memories for visitors and residents, and sustained and long-term impact for the region,” according to a KC2026 spokesperson.
Enforcement escalating
Immigration enforcement activities have escalated in recent years and months, most notably with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two white Americans whom U.S. immigration officers shot in Minneapolis earlier this year. People in the Kansas City metro, and elsewhere in the country, have been arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement regardless of their citizenship status.
And in Kansas City, a recent federal lawsuit accused authorities of unlawfully detaining dozens of people, including four Missouri and Kansas immigrants who were held in custody without bond for months. That lawsuit is asking the courts to block a law enforcement practice of keeping people in custody without having an opportunity to have a bond hearing.
And Kansas just passed a law that says anyone who gets too close to immigration officers during enforcement activities can be detained.
Amaia Cook, executive director of Decarcerate KC, said her organization is part of a coalition that’s trying to bring attention to the fact that there’s an increase in detention and expansion of immigration enforcement not just locally, but across the country. Decarcerate has received word that Kansas City can expect officers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. National Guard to be posted throughout the area during the World Cup.
And, amid that increase in police presence, people may get caught up in the enforcement efforts, Cook said. The KC area has long been a target for immigrant surveillance and detention expansion efforts under the Trump Administration, she said.
The federal government was at one point eyeing Kansas City to build an immigration detention facility, and private prison company CoreCivic successfully reopened a center in Leavenworth, Kansas, despite local opposition.
The goal of the advisory is to encourage people to be aware of the ongoing issues in the area and country during what’s supposed to be a time of celebration and inclusion, Cook said.
“We are really trying to focus on what makes Kansas City great, and that’s our community, and to challenge the national and local increase in detainment,” Cook said, adding that everyone, including the city’s immigrant community, deserves a shot to be part of Kansas City.
Warnings
The advisory also warns that people may be denied entry into parts of the country even if they have prior permission to come here, and that visas don’t guarantee admission because border patrol officers have discretion to deny entry or detain people at ports of entry.
And, people who are transgender or nonbinary and traveling to the United States may also have trouble getting into the country, depending on what gender is listed on their identification forms.
“For transgender and nonbinary persons traveling to the United States, recent memoranda and federal regulations suggest that travelers must apply for visas using sex assigned at birth,” according to the advisory. “Failure to do so could risk increased scrutiny or denial of entry to the United States.”
Kansas earlier this year passed a law invalidating more than 1,000 transgender residents’ drivers licenses and requiring people who are transgender or nonbinary to revise their identification forms to list their sex assigned at birth instead of markers that align with their gender identities. Both Kansas and Missouri have recently passed laws or moved forward legislation limiting where people who are trans can use the bathroom.
Under the Trump Administration, law enforcement officials have also restricted entry into the U.S. for people from several countries, implemented intensive social media screenings and electronic device searches, racially profiled people during immigration enforcement practices, and intimidated and used force against protestors and arrested journalists, among other concerning practices, according to the advisory.
With that in mind, the organizations that signed the advisory are calling on people living in host cities and those traveling to the country to verse themselves on “Know Your Rights” resources so that they understand their protections when they come into contact with ICE or other law enforcement. They also recommend that people secure their devices and remove any sensitive information or facial recognition and inform loved ones of where they will be, and when, throughout their travels.
The advisory suggests people download the Human Rights First’s ReadyNow! App in the event that they are detained by ICE or other law enforcement.
Journalists are recommended to consult the Committee to Protect Journalists or Reporters Without Borders to learn how to protect themselves during their travels, according to the advisory.
This recent travel advisory isn’t the first time that civic organizations have warned people about coming to the area. Back in 2017, the NAACP issued its first-ever travel advisory, in any state, in Missouri. The advisory, shared in June 2017, came in light of disproportionate policing of Black residents in the state.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, said it had no comment on the advisory at this time.
