A New Jersey congresswoman introduced legislation on Thursday to block immigration enforcement from conducting raids within a mile of a Fifa World Cup soccer match or fan festival in the US this summer. The Save the World Cup act, introduced by Nellie Pou, a Democrat, is meant to assure visitors that they will not be detained and to remove the chilling effect of ICE enforcement on the events, she said in a release.
The World Cup’s first US match begins on 12 June. “With fewer than 90 days until kickoff, the World Cup should bring the world together and not leave families wondering if ICE agents will be waiting outside stadiums,” said Pou.
“When I recently asked the head of ICE directly for a simple assurance that they would stay away from the games, he refused. That is unacceptable.
So my legislation draws a firm line on the pitch: no ICE raids.” “There is no successful tournament if fans and players are looking over their shoulders,” she continued. “We want law enforcement to focus on strong security for the World Cup, not meeting civil immigration quotas.
We should not allow fear to define this moment and ruin the games.” Democrats on the homeland security committee began raising alarms in February, when Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director testifying at a hearing refused to rule out enforcement actions at matches. With the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti fresh in mind, congressmembers sent ICE a letter noting their concerns about the chilling effect the presence of ICE would have and the lack of communication between DHS and planners at match venue cities.
