‘Let’s Go to Canada’: World Cup Nations Worry About Traveling to Trump’s America

Countries with qualifying teams and civil rights groups are issuing advisories about a United States that has been hostile to foreigners This summer, for the first time since 1994, the FIFA World Cup is coming back to North America. The tri-national hosting gig between the United States, Canada, and Mexico should be a celebration of the continental growth of soccer, and the unifying power of the most popular sport in the world. But this is 2026, and Donald Trump is in charge.

The tournament is taking place against a backdrop of violent enforced nativism and foreign interventionism from the United States. The Trump administration has turned anti-immigrant policies into a deadly surveillance and deportation machine , and placed hardline restrictions on travel and tourism from majority Black and Muslim countries. It is currently waging a war against Iran — a qualifying country in the tournament — and causing a global fuel shortage that has skyrocketed travel and logistics costs ahead of the tournament. Countries are being backed into a corner, human rights groups are concerned, and fans are considering traveling only to Canada or Mexico — or skipping the World Cup entirely — in order to avoid potential encounters with an administration that seems set on making an example out of foreigners. The World Cup has always been imbued with a certain amount of political turmoil and opposition; it’s impossible to have dozens of countries in the same venue without some form of geopolitical tension. The scrutiny has been heightened after the last two tournaments took place in Qatar and Russia, countries with well known, notorious records of human rights abuses . FIFA may have been hoping that placing the 2026 tournament in North America could help balm the organization’s shaky reputation , but the return of Trump has only brought more controversy . This is perhaps the “worst time for human rights in the United States, maybe since the Civil Rights Movement,” Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program, tells Rolling Stone in an interview about the group’s monitoring of the upcoming tournament. From top to bottom, the ACLU and a coalition of human rights, civil rights, and immigrant groups are attempting to put pressure on the administration, FIFA, and local venues to, as Dakwar puts it, “take seriously their responsibility to ensure that people’s basic rights are protected — whether they are travelers and fans, reporters covering the sports events, or protesters who might want to protest whatever they want within their rights under U.S. law and international human rights law.” Since Trump’s return to office, the government’s immigration crackdown has seen legal visa holders and residents arbitrarily detained for long stretches of time. The rapidly expanded system of detention centers used to hold the ballooning number of immigration detainees are inhumane and increasingly deadly , and the Trump administration seems to believe it can crack down with impunity, regardless of the law. Amid the clamor, the Department of Homeland Security’s new secretary — former Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin — has made a point to reassure the public that while ICE will be present as supplemental security at events related to the World Cup, they won’t be there to “go round up mass individuals.” Regardless, the very presence of the violent militarized force has communities and prospective visitors on edge.

Key points

• The tournament is taking place against a backdrop of violent enforced nativism and foreign interventionism from the United States.
• The Trump administration has turned anti-immigrant policies into a deadly surveillance and deportation machine , and placed hardline restrictions on travel and tourism from majority Black and Musli…
• It is currently waging a war against Iran — a qualifying country in the tournament — and causing a global fuel shortage that has skyrocketed travel and logistics costs ahead of the tournament.
• Countries are being backed into a corner, human rights groups are concerned, and fans are considering traveling only to Canada or Mexico — or skipping the World Cup entirely — in order to avoid pot…
• The World Cup has always been imbued with a certain amount of political turmoil and opposition; it’s impossible to have dozens of countries in the same venue without some form of geopolitical tension.