Written by: Aleksa Nunez
The United States is preparing to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup this upcoming June. However, growing concerns have been raised regarding the current United States’ immigration landscape and its effects on the globally-celebrated event. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have been reported as a “key part” in the overall security in this summer’s World Cup. UNITE HERE Local 11 (Local 11), a labor union representing 2,000 workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles—one of the World Cup venues—has pushed back against this initiative by filing a formal complaint directly addressing the issue to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against FIFA and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the owner of SoFi Stadium.
1. Background
Under the Trump administration, the United States has committed to a mass deportation campaign by enacting strict immigration policies and utilizing ICE agents in U.S. cities. The current landscape of ICE and its procedures may pose an issue for the event’s diverse, global audience, and employees working the events. Under Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem, a Supreme Court shadow docket order, ICE agents are now legally permitted to stop and question individuals who may be suspected to be in the country illegally based on racial profiling. This order, along with ICE’s use of force—specifically after government agents shot and killed two civilians in Minnesota—raised unease over the role the agency is meant to play in this international sporting event.
Concerns were also raised during the 2025 Club World Cup that took place in the United States. FIFA received 145 complaints directly tied to ICE’s presence. Those complaints included a variety of issues that primarily raised human rights concerns regarding discrimination and federal policy enforcement, with particular focus on the discomfort that was caused by the heavy presence of ICE agents at the tournaments.
2. Unite Here Local 11’s Complaint
Local 11 represents 2,000 stadium workers employed at SoFi Stadium and over 30,000 workers in Sothern California. On April 16, 2026 the union filed a formal complaint to the NLRB that directly addresses ICE’s presence during the 2026 World Cup. The complaint claims employers have refused to enact restrictions regarding facility access to ICE as the FIFA World Cup approaches. The complaint further claims that through ICE’s growing presence, employers have created a chilling effect through use of reasonable fear against its employees that prevents them from participating in protected concerted activity, a violation of Section 7 rights under the NLRA. The union has requested emergency injunctive relief through an enforcement policy that restricts ICE’s access to the facility during the World Cup.
The union has been vocal regarding this concern before the issuance of the complaint and has publicly addressed its members’ rights to refuse to work if ICE is present at the facility. Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), SoFi employees may not be subject to work if the conditions presented are unusually dangerous. Local 11 claims that ICE’s presence creates such conditions and employees will be permitted to leave the facility. Under the Interboro Doctrine, an individual’s reasonable assertion of a right grounded in a CBA is recognized as concerted activity and is protected under Section 7 of the NLRA. Therefore, these SoFi employees will likely be permitted to leave the facility because of ICE’s presence. Additionally, the union is invoking its rights under Section 7 and Section 13 of the NLRA by preparing to strike if concerns regarding ICE’s presence at the events are not addressed timely.
Local 11 has raised this concern regarding all employees and guests alike due to the ability of ICE, under Vasquez Perdomo, to intimidate, threaten, and detain individuals based on how they look.
3. The Trump Administration’s Immigration Enforcement Strategy
Since Trump began his second term in January 2025, his administration has adopted a strong stance against undocumented immigration while promoting mass deportations as a part of his broader initiative to enhance public safety in the United States. ICE’s presence at the World Cup is intended to ensure that people are legally entering the United States so that all people are accounted for and identified.
ICE’s presence at the global sporting events is not unusual. During the 2026 Olympics, ICE was sent to the event under a different initiative. ICE has split operations: Enforcement and Removal Operations (EPO) who enforce immigration laws and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) who operate surveillance operations by providing intelligence on human trafficking, cybercrime, and counterterrorism. HSI presence at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games were tailored to aiding Italian authorities to implement proactive surveillance against larger crimes while not acting as the primary security enforcer for the event.
The Trump administration has yet to respond to the newest concerns regarding ICE’s presence at the upcoming World Cup.
4. What’s Next
The complaint remains in its early stages. Following a filing of a complaint, an investigation is conducted by the NLRB’s regional office regarding the allegations that may then lead to a hearing that is presided over by an Administrative Law Judge. However, with the World Cup scheduled to begin June 19, FIFA is feeling the growing pressures by labor unions, like Local 11, and Congress members who addressed the same issue earlier this year. FIFA management is currently encouraging the organization’s president, Gianni Infantino, to utilize his relationship with President Donald Trump to enact a full moratorium—a temporary pause—on ICE raids. However, without definite action taking place, labor unions at other stadiums across the United States hosting the World Cup may follow Local 11’s approach by filing similar unfair labor practice claims and exercise their right to strike to limit ICE’s presence during the 2026 World Cup. If unions choose to follow this path, it could severely interfere with, or even halt, the 2026 World Cup.
Sources:
29 U.S.C. §§ 157, 163.
Adam Crafton, FIFA Faces New Crisis as SoFi Stadium Workers in LA Threaten Strike Action, The Athletic (Apr. 10, 2026), https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7181775/2026/04/10/fifa-SoFi-workers-strike-threat-ice-infantino/.
Adam Crafton, Infantino and FIFA Discuss Asking President Trump for Moratorium on World Cup ICE Raids, The Athletic (Apr. 14, 2026), https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7193405/2026/04/14/inantino-trump-ice-raids-moratorium/.
Adam Crafton, SoFi Stadium Workers Union Files Complaint Over ICE Concerns at the World Cup, The Athletic (Apr. 17, 2026), https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7203430/2026/04/17/world-cup-SoFi-stadium-fifa-union/.
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Jennifer Chacón, Whose Common Sense? Some Reflections on Noem v. Vazquez Perdomo, Stan. L. Sch. Legal Aggregate (Sept. 24, 2025), https://law.stanford.edu/2025/09/24/whose-common-sense-some-reflections-on-noem-v-vazquez-perdomo/.
Kaitlyn Flores, The Effects of U.S. Immigration Policy on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, St. Andrews L. Rev. (Feb. 22, 2026), https://standrewslawreview.com/the-effects-of-us-immigration-policy-on-the-2026-fifa-world-cup.
NLRB v. City Disposal Sys., Inc., 465 U.S. 822, 104 S. Ct. 1505 (1984).
Natalie Proulx, Jeremy Engle & Michael Gonchar, Teaching About Trump’s Immigration Crackdown, N.Y. Times (Nov. 5, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/learning/teaching-about-trumps-immigration-crackdown.html.
Protecting the American People Against Invasion, The White House (Jan. 20, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-american-people-against-invasion/.
Uwa Ede-Osifo, Workers at LA Stadium Threaten World Cup Strike Amid Anger Over ICE, The Guardian (Apr. 11, 2026), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/11/SoFi-stadium-los-angeles-world-cup.
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