Miami host committee assured ICE will not be at World Cup games

"Rodney Barreto said on Thursday that he received reassurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that ICE would steer clear of the world football showcase. ICE is not going to be at the stadium, Barreto told US-based website, The Athletic. This is not going to turn into some round them up' type of thing. That's not the purpose of this. It'll be a great experience for everybody. I think that we're lucky that we do have a president who loves sports and has given us the resources to reimburse the cities for their police protection."

"Barreto added, I spoke to Marco and, first of all, he's going to make sure that the passports get processed and people can get here and there is an orderly process so people won't be held up. It's going to be a major undertaking by the federal government to do that. We feel very comfortable that we're going to be in good hands. The deployment of ICE for immigration-enforcement raids has increased since Donald Trump began his second stint as president last year, igniting a significant political debate in the US."

"South Florida's role as a World Cup host market also comes against the backdrop of scenes from the 2024 Copa America championship game, when fans stormed the gates at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, causing a number of injuries and delaying the start of the Argentina-Colombia match. (The Miami World Cup organising committee) took the position that we didn't want to be critical of the planners of that event, Barreto told The Athletic. It wasn't our event. But now that time has passed, I would tell you that where the failure was, which was that there were no perimeters."

ICE will not be seen at World Cup matches this summer, according to Rodney Barreto, co-chair of the Miami host committee. Barreto said he received reassurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that ICE would stay away and that passport processing would be handled with an orderly process so people would not be held up. Barreto described the federal effort as a major undertaking and said the host committee feels comfortable with the plan. The increased use of ICE for immigration-enforcement raids since Donald Trump’s second term has fueled political debate. Miami’s hosting role also follows the 2024 Copa America incident in which fans stormed gates at Hard Rock Stadium, causing injuries and delaying a match, with Barreto pointing to failures such as lack of perimeters.

Read at www.aljazeera.com