"We want to make sure that we're as welcoming as possible, Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force on the World Cup, told reporters on Wednesday."
"You cannot have unity if you're promoting discrimination, if you're promoting repression, and if you're pushing to silence anyone who disagrees with you, Norona told Al Jazeera. So I don't think that we can call this a moment of unity if they are doing the opposite of what unity means."
"Visas are a national security issue, each and every one of those there, he said."
A White House committee organizing the 2026 World Cup frames the event as a global moment of unity and aims to be welcoming. Rising anti-immigrant rhetoric and federal policies are creating doubt about that promise. The US Department of State is shortening visa interview wait times to facilitate fan travel while Mexico and Canada will co-host matches. The administration will not grant special exemptions for fans from 19 countries under a travel ban. Players and direct support staff from banned countries may receive visas, but fans could be denied. Targeted removals of undocumented immigrants around matches have not been ruled out. Two banned nations, Haiti and Iran, will participate.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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