As this is 2026, this means that this is the year that the 23rd FIFA World Cup will be contested. While the tournament is being shared across the three nations of Canada, Mexico and the United States, the lion's share of matches are being held in the United States with 78 of 104 matches.
This poses a problem.
The current Trump Administration in its campaign of rampant belligerency, imposed via Executive Order 14161, Proclamation 10949, an expanded travel ban which as far as I can tell now includes 39 countries:
Under normal circumstances, travel bans to countries sounds like business as normal but with the World Cup happening, the effect of this is that several nations fans' will not be able to go to the World Cup at all.
The travel ban likely does not affect the Players who would arrive on P1 Athelete Visas, or their trainers and support staff who would arrive on AG Official Visas; which is similar to how the Olympic Games will operate in 2028 in Los Angeles. However, the normal route of fans who would arrive on B2 Tourist Visas, has now been removed entirely for the nations subject to the travel ban.
This means that for the countries of Haiti, Iran, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal, they will have exactly zero fans arrive from those nations. For the possible countries of The Congo, Bolivia, Iraq, and Suriname, they also will have exactly zero fans arrive from those nations.
In addition to this, as part of the ongoing Visa Waiver Program and the B1 and B2 Tourist Visa programs, that same Executive Order 14161 demands the following:
The Department of Homeland Security now requires ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years, telephone numbers both personal and business, email addresses, the names of family members, and perhaps even DNA collection.
Of course the United States as a sovereign nation has the right and the responsibility of maintaining its border entry points and the regulation of who is and isn't allowed to enter the country. However, the list of demands that it has imposed, especially in the light that the Trump administration is now engaging in social media surveillance and openly denies tourists' entry or revoking visas over making political posts, is chilling.
"Thus, while the Court has recognized that due process considerations may constrain the Federal Government’s exercise of its immigration power, there is some uncertainty regarding the extent to which these constraints apply with regard to aliens within the United States."
- Notes on Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, "Aliens in the United States", from the US Congress (at 3rd Jan 2026)
It should be noted that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), has repeatedly recognized that Congress retains very very broad powers with respect to aliens entering the United States. Furthermore, Executive Order 14161 seems to appear as though the Office of the President has taken an almost plenary position of unfettered power over immigration. Congress at the moment simply refuses to stand in the way and SCOTUS is absent.
If we want proof that the Trump Administration knows that it can literally get away with anything because the law simply does not apply to the President, then all we need to do is look to the ruling in 23-939 Trump v United States (2024) which ruled that President Trump has absolute immunity for official acts and core constitutional duties.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
As immigration is explicitly defined as a core constitutional duty per Article I, Section 8, then the President's plenary position over immigration is completely fine within the corpus of the law as it stands. I note that even the most authoritarian states in the world do not have such an official policy, with regards issues such as this.
Mind you, given that both former FIFA presidents Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were involved in corruption cases, that the World Cup was awarded to Russia in 2018 despite its belligerence to Ukraine, and then Qatar in 2022 with an amazing amount of bribery and the country technically being unfit to host the World Cup under FIFA's own rules, the 2026 World Cup with travel bans and an actively increased surveillance and security state, might actually look tame in comparison.
As long as Trump gets the glory like the scared gold calf, it's all worth it?
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