00:00Human rights experts are warning against possible threats ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup,
00:05highlighting the need to protect immigrant communities, foreign visitors, and the journalists covering the games.
00:11This comes as the U.S. immigration and customs enforcement has led to the expulsion of thousands of illegal migrants in the U.S.
00:19The World Cup does not become a pretext for stifling dissent or expanding mass surveillance.
00:26Every player, fan, journalist, and resident has the right to participate and protest without fear of sanction,
00:35arbitrary detention, or any sort of discriminatory treatment, and in this case also of deportation.
00:41And with U.S. President Donald Trump ramping up immigration enforcement across the country,
00:46there is fear that federal law enforcement officers will arrest workers and even travelers during the games.
00:52This has indeed raised fears among some football enthusiasts.
00:55FIFA has repeatedly promised that the world is welcome in America, in the United States.
01:00But without clear, forceful advocacy and action from FIFA, those words ring hollow.
01:07FIFA must use its influence to call on the U.S. government to uphold human rights,
01:12end discriminatory travel bans, and stop immigration enforcement actions that target communities
01:17where matches will take place in particular.
01:19The longer FIFA stays silent or doesn't do enough, the greater the risk that their brand and event
01:27will become part of a public relations tool to normalize an increasingly authoritarian U.S. government.
01:34FIFA's suggestions for the 2026 plans include guidelines on non-discrimination security,
01:39preventing trafficking, protecting unhoused people and workers' rights, including for migrant workers.
01:45FIFA's suggestions for the 2026 plans for the 2026 plans for the 2026 plans for the 2026 plans.
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