Millions of international soccer fans are coming, but is the U.S. ready?

WASHINGTON — The State Department's website bills the 2026 FIFA soccer World Cup as a historic opportunity coinciding with the country’s 250th anniversary "to showcase American dynamism, world-class hospitality and sporting excellence."

But with roughly 75 days to the opening matches of the 39-day tournament being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, concerns are building about what international visitors will experience. Questions are arising about World Cup-related security and travel readiness, unspecified Trump Administration plans for immigration enforcement around stadiums and tighter new limits on some tourist access into the country.

This all comes against the backdrop of U.S military operations against Iran, likely to inject multilateral political tensions into the tournament.

"Where hosting the World Cup could be a nationally unifying event and an opportunity to build good will internationally as host, like a bickering family with bewildered dinner guests, many international sports fans may regret coming if something doesn't change," says Paul Brace, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston.

The 40-day partial shutdown of the federal agency that oversees homeland safety has led to congressional squabbles over World Cup preparation, and some lawmakers are worried things could be heading toward a self-defeating U.S. own goal.

"If Washington doesn’t get its act together, we risk turning a generational opportunity into an international embarrassment," warned Rep. Nellie Pou (D-N.J.), whose district includes MetLife Stadium, where eight matches, including the July 19 final, will be played.

Some 6 million to 10 million visitors from other countries are expected to stream into the nation's airports and attend the world’s most-watched sporting event and related fan fests that will start June 11 in Mexico and the next day in the United States and Canada.

About three-fourths of the record 104 games will be played in 11 U.S. host cities, and thousands of fans are expected to visit multiple sites.

Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House World Cup task force, told the BBC during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas this week, that, "We’re doing everything we can to make sure it’s safe and secure.

"But we need to open up the Department of Homeland Security," he added, "to maximize our chances that this is not just a safe and secure World Cup, but truly an incredible success."

TSA staffing

Just last week, Long Island Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) — the House Homeland Security Committee chairman — admitted during a hearing that it "scares" him that more than 480 Transportation Security Administration officers have so far quit their jobs during the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Senate did pass a bill Friday to reopen much of DHS and pay TSA officers and other employees. But House Speaker Mike Johnson quickly panned the bill and said the House was planning a different approach that would fund the entire department at current levels until May 22.

After all of this, Trump went ahead and signed an executive action to pay TSA employee with other funds.

Garbarino and his committee were informed during a hearing last week that replacements for the hundreds of TSA officers who have already quit — even if hired right away — won't finish their required training to work at airport checkpoints "until well after the World Cup has concluded."

This TSA retention crises, said Ha Nguyen McNeill, the TSA deputy administrator, has already led to U.S. airports facing the longest wait times in history. She said this signals potentially difficult consequences this summer given the onslaught of international visitors arriving for the World Cup on top of what is already the busy vacation season.

Security funding

Republicans and Democrats alike at the hearing blamed the other party for the ongoing shutdown.

Similar partisan blame-throwing had occurred weeks earlier at another hearing that Garbarino chaired, when officials and organizers from World Cup host cities sounded alarms they still had not received $625 million in promised federal security grants.

A planned attack at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in Paris was thwarted when security operations across five countries led to the detainment or arrest of members of a terrorist organization. Lone actors also are a worry — such as when a pipe bomb was detonated in Centennial Olympic Park at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

A recent State Department alert warned, "Groups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or locations associated with the United States and/or Americans throughout the world."

But at a Feb. 24 hearing before Garbarino’s committee, several organizers of the host-city events warned they were facing some hard deadlines because of late federal funding to either proceed with preparations or start cutting back on planned events and activities tied to the games, such as fan fests.

They noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, tasked with distributing the security money, had posted in November that it was expecting to allocate the funds no later than Jan. 30.

That award money to host cities was finally released March 18, with more than $66 million headed to events surrounding the MetLife matches.

Democrats have said the tardy funding has led to hardships for cities and local law enforcement to fully prepare. They’ve blamed FEMA staffing cuts and other moves by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Immigration actions

There is also worry of unrest stemming from potential actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies around stadiums and events.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons did not rule out during a February hearing the deployment of immigration enforcement operations at World Cup matches and fan fests. Lyons testified that ICE is a "key part of the overall security apparatus for the World Cup."

In response, some civil rights organizations have warned international tourists to reconsider travel to World Cup games.

Several lawmakers, including Pou, have introduced bills to block the Department of Justice and ICE from conducting raids near World Cup sites, public transport and fan fests during the tournament.

As an aside, the Trump administration has moved to require travelers from a total of 50 countries to post a refundable bond of up to $15,000 to apply for a U.S. visa, which might deter some international attendees.

But World Cup ticket holders — at least those who bought directly from FIFA — are supposed to be placed on a fast track for visas.

Giuliani said in a statement tied to the security grants: "We are proud of the collaborative efforts between federal agencies, local partners and the White House Task Force in preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup."

Pou questioned whether the preparations are setting the right tone. "Our visitors should be welcomed, not intimidated" she said. "Safety must be guaranteed — and certainly not used as a political bargaining chip."