A U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer stands watch inside Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey in late March.KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images
Around the Latino communities of northern New Jersey, stories of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown are everywhere.
There were the day labourers targeted as they waited for work on street corners in the borough of Fairview this past winter. Two people grabbed, handcuffed and whisked away next to an employment agency in Union City one afternoon earlier this month. Men in vehicles with tinted windows staking out city streets.
“They go around doing raids, sweeps, asking for papers,” said Jorge Peña as he sold avocados, limes and oranges on Bergenline Avenue, the bustling commercial thoroughfare at the heart of Union City. “All of this closes up, and people don’t go out.”
It’s all raising fears of what might happen during the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off next month. Nearby MetLife Stadium is set to host eight matches, including the final. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers could set up a perimeter around the venue or target gatherings in the streets or parks of these immigrant-filled burgs across the Hudson River from New York City.
A new pitch made of real grass is installed at MetLife Stadium for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in East Rutherford, N.J., on May 7.Angelina Katsanis/Reuters
“People are very afraid to go to the World Cup because there are many people here who have their work permit but don’t have permanent residency,” said Mr. Peña, 46, whose own home-country selección, Ecuador, is scheduled to take on Germany at MetLife. “Since many people don’t have it, they get arrested and taken away.”
Latin American and Caribbean communities are the backbone of soccer fandom in the U.S. What should be a season of celebration, however, threatens to be overshadowed by Mr. Trump’s campaign of mass deportation.
The President’s strict border controls, meanwhile, exclude citizens of 19 countries from entering the U.S., impose tight restrictions on citizens of 20 others and are expected to curb international tourism related to the tournament.
The Trump administration has so far given no indication of whether it will target any of the 11 stadiums across the country that will host World Cup matches. But in communities surrounding them, immigrants are greeting the possibility with a mix of dread and defiance.
Josephys Dafils, who runs Haitian-Americans United for Change, a community service organization in Philadelphia, said the sheer size of the expected celebrations in his city – where Haiti will play Brazil on June 19 – means any attempt by ICE to arrest people could quickly turn violent.
“It would not be a wise thing for them to do. They’re going to be outnumbered. I don’t want anybody to get hurt,” he said in an interview.
Mr. Dafils, 49, expects the community’s excitement to override fears of an immigration clampdown: It’s the first time since 1974 that Haiti has qualified for the tournament, and the match is against one of the sport’s most legendary teams.
“I don’t think you understand the magnitude of this. It’s been 52 years since we were in the World Cup. We have a chance to play against Brazil in Philadelphia. Do you think we’re going to stay home?” Mr. Dafils said.
In addition to officially sanctioned events near the stadium, fans are planning to tailgate in Olney, a north end neighbourhood with a high concentration of Haitian businesses, he said.
Standing in the afternoon sunshine on the area’s main drag, Josie Rodriguez, 79, who owns a Haitian restaurant here, appealed directly to Mr. Trump. “Just give people that one day to relax and enjoy the moment,” she said. “Give the ICE officers that day off.”
Another potential consideration for federal agents, at least in this city, is the reaction of local authorities. Since officers killed two protesters in Minneapolis during immigration raids earlier this year, Philadelphia’s top prosecutor has warned that he will not hesitate to lay criminal charges if ICE breaks the law in his city.
“If they commit crimes, then they’re going to be accountable. The most fundamental value of the United States is supposed to be equality. It still is for most of us,” District Attorney Larry Krasner told The Globe and Mail at his office across the street from City Hall. “If they want to [mess] around, they are going to find out,” he said, using an expletive.
Vote on ICE funding bill delayed as Republicans bicker over Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
Mr. Krasner said Mr. Trump has already undermined the World Cup by banning tourists from some countries, making it difficult for others to get visas and discouraging still more with everything from the immigration raids to high gas prices caused by his war on Iran.
“ICE in the United States and this administration have done nothing but wreck FIFA,” he said.
During last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, Pancho Villa’s Army, a club for U.S. fans of the Mexican national team, cancelled a planned tailgate in Los Angeles as immigration raids rolled through the city. This time around, they plan to take part in FIFA-organized fan events in L.A., Houston and Seattle.
The group’s leader, Arizona-based Richard (Coronel) Guel, said recent immigration roundups seem to be more low-key, but he is still worried about what might happen.
“It’s unsettling, and we’re definitely concerned about that. We just don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know if it has died down, but obviously other stories have taken precedence.”
The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent organization, told The Globe in an e-mail that it “will work with our local and federal partners to secure” the World Cup and that international visitors who enter the country legally “have nothing to worry about.” The department did not reply to questions about whether it would carry out immigration enforcement around the tournament.
FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.
On a recent afternoon at Centro Comunitario CEUS, on the second floor of a North Bergen, N.J., commercial building, volunteers and staff packed canned goods, rice and other staples into food hampers. They were destined for 45 immigrant families struggling to make ends meet after losing breadwinners to ICE.
The pace of arrests was particularly swift here earlier this year, with as many as five reported to the community centre some days.
Blanca Molina, the centre’s executive director, said community leaders are trying to find a private space to hold World Cup watch parties so people can enjoy the matches without worrying about agents showing up.
“It’s a shame that the final game will be here but they cannot go and watch it,” said the 65-year-old, who fled civil war in El Salvador in 1990. “We’re looking for an alternative on how they can enjoy it without being scared of being touched by immigration.”
Officers here seem to be employing the same profiling tactics they have used in other parts of the country and admitted to in court documents, she said: ICE agents will roll up on a bus stop, for instance, and target anyone who appears to be Latino and is dressed to do manual labour. “Clearly, the message is for Hispanic people,” Ms. Molina said.
At an Ecuadorian food store nearby, Maruca Cedillo, 53, said people have told her they will have to avoid the World Cup for fear of running into immigration agents.
“ICE is on all sides,” she said. “One has to be very cautious, very cautious.”
At Mr. Peña’s spot on Bergenline Avenue, the day looks deceptively normal. The busy strip of 19th-century commercial buildings stretches some seven kilometres, with Argentine bakeries jostling for space with Colombian cafés, Mexican grocers and Ecuadorian restaurants. Surrounding it is a tight street grid of tenements and rowhouses.
But the fruit vendor says his business has fallen markedly since the roundups began. Many people barely leave their homes, while others will approach quickly, rush to buy as fast as they can, then get back to the safety of their buildings.
It’s a struggle to provide for his two adolescent children and send money to his mother in Ecuador, which he left eight years ago to immigrate to the U.S.
“There are many people who are innocent − we have nothing to do with anything,” he said. “I understand there are a lot of bad people. But we’re not all the same.”