The United States has denied entry to a top Somali referee who was set to participate in the FIFA World Cup, raising concerns about Washington's travel restrictions and their impact on the tournament.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Al Jazeera on Monday that Omar Artan was not allowed into the country after arriving in South Florida on Saturday. Artan was “determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry”, a DHS spokesperson said in an email, without providing further details.
Artan's arrival in the US, however, suggests that he had a valid visa prior to travel. Somalia is on President Donald Trump's travel ban list. The president has often disparaged the African country and its people. Late last year, he sparked outrage when he called Somali immigrants in the US “garbage”.
Artan, one of Africa's top referees, was set to become the first Somali to officiate a World Cup match. The denial of entry is the latest controversy surrounding US travel policies and the World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Mexico and Canada.
Iran's national team has to stay in Mexico due to visa issues. The players will be allowed to arrive in the US to play their game, but they must then return to their base south of the border. Still, some of the team's staff members were denied US visas altogether.
There is also growing concern about federal agents harassing foreign nationals or targeting undocumented immigrants in or around stadiums. On Monday, Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, rebuked the Trump administration's plans for a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the city during the tournament.
“Soccer would not exist without immigrants. Immigrants play and coach the game, work in the stadiums, fill the stands, and make celebrations like the World Cup possible. Six of the players on the US Men's National Team are immigrants,” Mamdani wrote in a social media post.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) decried the travel bans after Artan was denied entry. “Our nation should not ban anyone from our shores simply because of their race or their ethnicity. That's especially true of a coach or referee or anyone else coming to participate in the World Cup,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR's deputy director, told Al Jazeera.
FIFA, which awarded Trump its inaugural peace prize last year, did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment. DHS has suggested that participation in the World Cup – including by athletes, coaches, and staff – does not affect inspection and decisions by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at airports and border crossings.
Earlier this year, in an interview with Al Jazeera in Mogadishu, Artan said it was an “honour” to appear on football's brightest stage despite the hardships and civil strife in Somalia. The referee added that, at times, he has had to change his route to his local stadium because of explosions in the country. “You cannot give up as a referee. You have to have a target. I had this target, but it was not an easy job,” he said.
Source: www.aljazeera.com